Heisetsu: Similarities in Opposites
by BloodFreedom13
Summary: AU. Naruto was merely trying to avoid public eye in the forest when an odd series of events left him caring for a foul mouthed red headed girl. NaruTayu. One-shot turned story. M for language and violence. Slightly dark Naruto and Tayuya at times
1. A Glimpse of the Future

**A/N: **Something I did in about 15 minutes, so it's pretty short...and not at its' best, but I think it's alright anyways.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto...obviously.

* * *

**fPast Demons: Similarities in Opposites**

A bright light flashed through the darkness night had brought to the bedroom, the typical clap of thunder following it soon after. Rain continued to patter on the curtained window, filling the occupants of the room with a calming sound to sleep by. Calming sounds or not though, a blond man silently lay awake in the large bed of the room, his arm around a sleeping red headed woman curled into his side.

The man, in his early twenties, had a haunted look present in his eyes that should not have been seen on anyone at all, let alone one so young. The dull blue orbs that used to be so full of life had lost their brilliance through the trials that was his life, the life of someone misunderstood. At that moment though, his own problems and fears were far from being his main concern.

For at that moment, the entirety of Naruto's attention was focused on the woman in bed with him; she was his wife, his Tayuya. Her past demons, much like his own, followed her wherever she went, torturing her with memories of past mistakes and horrible recollections fit only for the worst of nightmares. Currently, she was quietly whimpering in her sleep, unconsciously fidgeting against her husband while her mind relived some of her worst memories.

Naruto tightened his arm around her, in an attempt to comfort her, just as she would do for him when his past caught up with him. This did nothing to soothe the woman however, so his other hand reached towards her arm, slowly stroking the soft skin there.

Her struggles lessened to an extent, but the blond could tell with ease that she was still experiencing what he wished she never had to.

Another lightning flash filled the room, briefly illuminating the sorrowful glance on the man's face, before it disappeared with the following clap of thunder.

Naruto sighed quietly, still attempting to soothe his wife. He would go to any means necessary to make her comfortable, something other residents in the village didn't understand...after all, they still thought of him as Kyuubi no Kitsune itself.

That may be true in most cases, but in the case of he and Tayuya, Naruto knew it couldn't be more wrong.

The blond had never been what one might consider a typical citizen of the great and peaceful Konohagakure after all, a childhood filled with glares and malicious comments assured that, so when he first meant Tayuya, the two connected without even knowing it.

They were similar in multiple aspects. They both hid themselves behind masks, their hearts were sheltered by a shell made in an attempt to save them from getting hurt, and they both dealt with past demons through either false happiness or crude anger.

Naruto cut off that chain of thought in favor of the more important task at hand, and turned to his side to wrap his arms more securely around Tayuya, still offering his endless support, just as she would do for him.

From his new position, however, the blond could see the tracks that silent tears had made down Tayuya's face. He felt his heart clench at that, and quietly lowered his lips down to hers.

It was a soft kiss, meant to provide comfort and warmth to the one he loved.

And it worked.

The red head's face was slowly relieved of its' strained expression, the tension leaving her as she finally quieted. Tayuya tucked her face further into the blond's body in her sleep, but from his position, Naruto's haunted eyes caught sight of a small smile gracing her lips while she slept.

The blue orbs brightened; he felt a smile grace his own lips as well.

The blond never knew opening his shell to someone he loved could make him feel emotions so strong that they were almost shared between the pair.

In the end though, as the last shadows of consciousness left him, he was truly glad that Tayuya had broken through.


	2. Prelude

**A/N:** After reading the reviews for what used to be the one-shot before this chapter, I came across one suggesting it to be a good idea for a story. I thought about it for a couple days, and actually developed a rough form of a plot without even realizing I was doing so. I decided to try it out, and see what happened. Just think of the original one-shot as a look into the future.

First off, lemme say right now that this isn't going to be a story that basically puts a chain of events in word form. (ex: Naruto got up and walked to the door. Naruto walked down the stairs and onto the street. He started to head towards...etc...) I hate stories that do that...just tell the facts and the bare minimum of what it takes to be a story.

Second, I'll warn you now, my updates will be far from consistent. One might be a week after the previous chapter, the next one a month, it all depends on what's happening irl.

I know I'll eventually get a flame or two, so I won't become an author that tells people not to flame. I'll just say this: make sure you have a reason to flame...if you're just flaming because of the pairing or because something happened you didn't like without reason, expect your ass to flamed back in the next chapter. (Without the name included...of course.)

Oh...and I don't own Naruto.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Prologue**

A seven year old Uzumaki Naruto sat high in the branches of a tree located in the surrounding area of one of Konoha's many training grounds. It was currently raining lightly, causing the blond's hair to droop down over his eyes, ironically reflective of his mood. This rain, however, did nothing to stop the sounds of celebration coming from the central area of the city.

It was October 10th, the day the Yondaime defeated the vicious demon Kyuubi no Kitsune. In Konohagakure, this day was considered to be one of the most important traditions that the population celebrated, nearly everyone was invited to the festivities.

_Nearly _everyone, meaning everyone but Naruto.

The whiskered boy sighed softly as he began to lower himself down the tree, using a subtle amount of chakra to allow his feet to stick to the bark.

The blond had been hated and rejected like this for as long as he could remember, he had the scars to prove it. Because of his status as an outcast though, he had learned long ago to hide what he truly was. He played the part of the attention-seeking, obnoxious little boy that everyone knew him as; they were too blind to see he had the potential to truly become the ninja he wanted to be.

He had decided to be a ninja for his personal safety early on in his life, around the time the orphanage kicked him out, when he was but four years old. At first, he had been clumsy and uncoordinated to highest degree, barely able to throw a kunai right at all. After having taught himself to read though, an accomplishment that took nearly an entire year of hard work by himself, he began to use the library to aid in his training.

Since that time, he had been sure to practice daily. Chakra control exercises, weight training, basic taijutsu kata, anything he could find, Naruto boy had even saved up enough of his weekly allowance to buy secondhand training weights, even if they were sold to him at a cost that would suggest they were in prime condition.

By now, the blond had reached the moist ground. He sighed again, sounding much too old for his real age, before he began his trek back to his apartment through the surrounding forest.

Naruto was nearly half way to his run down apartment before he heard the quiet sound of bushes rustling to his right. He pivoted with more grace than a normal seven year old could manage, only to see a flash of red before it vanished into the forest.

The blond kept walking a moment later, his pace somewhat faster, his eyes glancing warily around him. It wouldn't be good to be caught outside tonight, he had found long ago that the villagers were particularly vicious on the night of his birthday.

The scarred writing on his chest and back proved it.

Fighting off a grimace, the blond futher quickened his pace as the hairs on the back of his neck stood at their full length, extending his senses in an attempt to find any nearby chakra source. He knew he could probably only manage to find a genin with them, but it was better than nothing.

Naruto heard more leaves rustle to his left. He quickly turned to see what had caused the disturbance, but found nothing.

The boy, still facing towards his left, almost desperately tried to calm himself, if he were to be found outside, the last thing he'd want to be was frantic. He had just turned to continue on to his apartment, which was now under a quarter mile away, when he heard a whistling sound.

The blond quickly realized it was a kunai or shuriken flying through the air, and threw himself to the ground in an attempt to dodge it. After hearing the dull plunk of metal hitting tree bark moments later, he scrambled back to his feet, only to have the wind knocked out of him by a fist planted in his stomach.

The small boy was thrown backwards a couple feet, slightly disorientated, but shakily stood up again anyway. He looked up to find a drunken chuunin, if the smell was any indicator, standing in front of him, a wicked yet stupid looking grin on his face.

"It must be my lucky day. I found the demon out wandering all by himself...no one around to save him this time." The man slurred, talking to himself as if Naruto wasn't there. The blond in question used this time to form a one handed seal for two kage bunshin behind his back, one of the few jutsu he could use with one hand.

Naruto was relieved to find that the man was too drunk to realize what he had just done, either that, or he was just stupid. Either way, he'd use it to his advantage. His thoughts were cut off though, as the chuunin charged him.

Naruto barely managed to dodge the kick that was aimed for his head, stumbling backwards from the chuunin's speed...drunken or not. He quickly regained his footing though, ready for the man this time.

The blond blocked a punch aimed for his face while managing to get inside the man's sloppy guard. He took a kunai from his pouch and made to stab the man in the gut. The chuunin caught the blow, however, and snarled.

"Demon shit! I'll kill you!" He used one of his hands to rip the kunai from the boy's grasp, while the other maintained a grip on the blond's arm. The chuunin then drew back his arm for a strike with the stolen kunai, the quiet pop of a shadow clone coming out of its rock henge lost on him, and went to plunge the weapon into the boy's stomach.

The man snarled confusedly as his arm was stopped though, he looked over to find a copy of the demon brat keeping his arm at bay. The chuunin was just about to let loose a string of profanities when he felt a stabbing pain in his lower side.

The ninja looked down to find another copy of the blond, this one holding a kunai that was currently plunged deep into the man's skin, a soon to be fatal blow.

"You little shit!! I'll fucking kill you!!" The man raged.

He thrashed about suddenly, destroying the two clones and throwing Naruto back a meter or two. The blond was still regaining his bearings when he found the ninja standing over him. The man stomped down on one of the boy's hands, breaking it with a sickening crack, and used the other one to hold him in the air in front of him.

"You'll pay for all the lives you've stolen demon!" The chuunin hissed as he drew back his free hand, a kunai clenched tightly in its fingers, for the killing blow.

Naruto tightly shut his eyes and waited for the killing blow, whimpering slightly as he did. It came as a shock when he was dropped to the ground though, unharmed but for his hand.

The blond briefly shook his head to clear it, before looking around, attempting to find out what had happened. The first thing he saw was the chuunin, obviously dead, on the ground with a kunai deep in his neck. The second was a red headed girl standing slightly off to the side, looking to be no more than a year older than he was.

"_The red in the forest earlier..."_ His mind registered.

Naruto's eyes widened as he took in her condition. Her clothes were ragged and dirty, torn in spots that showed she had most likely been traveling for the past few days. One of her arms was bruised badly, possibly broken in several places, her breathing was shallow and came in gasps. She was obviously exhausted, most likely dehydrated as well.

The girl got out one broken sentence before she collapsed unconscious on the ground, unable to continue.

"Your eyes...s-same"

Naruto sat stupefied for a few moments, before his thought process caught up with the situation at hand.

He drew in a quick breath as he got to his feet to run to the girl, ignoring the painful sensations from his shattered hand. Once the blond reached her, he gently turned her onto her back and immediately checked her pulse. It was still strong, so after briefly looking around for any other threats in the area, Naruto picked her up as best he could and continued on his way towards his apartment.

* * *

A tired blond sighed and sat down heavily in a chair next to the bed. After having carried the red head to his apartment, laying her on the bed, and checking her as best he could with his limited knowledge of the human body, Naruto was able to determine that none of her bones were actually broken. She was beaten up pretty badly, but it was nothing that a few days rest couldn't fix.

Content that the girl was not in any life threatening danger and still far too awake to go to sleep, Naruto got into a meditation position to calm himself, then allowing the outside world to darken, soon being replaced by a sewer like hallway. The boy immediately set off into the hallways, turning with practiced ease towards his destination.

After nearly a minute of walking in the dreary setting, he came upon a giant cage. A giant cage that housed the great demon, Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Naruto had been quite surprised to find that he held the greatest of all demons, but at the same time, relieved to know why everyone hated him. It had been back before he decided to become a ninja, mere days after the orphanage had kicked him out.

**_Flashback_**

_He was panting hard as he pushed himself to get away. Tears blurred his vision as he fell over a pile of trash in the alleyway he was currently running down._

_A five year old Naruto quickly forced himself to his aching feet and unwillingly let out a hard sob as he continued fleeing from the villagers. He had only bumped into a lady burdened with groceries, he even offered to help pick them up, but before he knew it, the lady picked up a fallen egg and threw it at his face._

_Bewildered, Naruto had tried to clear his eyes of the mess. As soon as he had gotten his vision back to merely seeing blurry figures though, the lady hit him with another egg...and unseen to the child, the scene was starting to attract attention._

_The blond turned to run and stumbled into an alleyway, still trying to clean his eyes enough so he could actually see where he was going. He had stopped briefly to do just that, but that brief moment was more than enough for the villagers to find him, bent on taking revenge for "attempting to murder" that lady._

_And so, Naruto had found himself in this situation, freshly kicked out of the orphanage at age five, left to fend completely for himself, and hated by almost everyone in Konohagakure._

_He turned another corner, running aimlessly now, merely hoping to lose his pursuers._

_Luck was not on his side._

_He took in a sharp breath as he saw his current path to be a dead end, letting out a small frightened cry as he turned back._

_He found himself staring at the mob of villagers though. Blue eyes widened in fear._

_One particularly cruel looking man stepped forward, a smirk on his face._

"_Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like the DEMON thought he could start killing whenever he wished to again." He hissed out in a cold voice. "Not today you little shit! TODAY IS THE DAY YOU DIE!"_

_With that, he charged Naruto with a gleaming knife. The blond, who had been backing up while the man was speaking, tripped over a piece of trash. He fell on his back with a startled cry, immediately curling into a ball to try and protect himself._

_The man wouldn't allow him even that though._

_He wrenched one of the boy's arms out and stabbed his knife straight through it and into the ground, pinning it there._

_Naruto yelped in surprise and fear when he arm had been grabbed, but the pain from having a blade jammed through your arm and into the ground was too much for the five year old. He cried out loudly in pain and writhed around on the ground, blindly trying to free his arm, but only making the wound and pain worse in the end._

_The man grinned maliciously and took another knife from the crowd behind him. He repeated his actions on Naruto's other arm, watching with sadistic pleasure as the young boy whimpered and cried silently but freely on the ground. His eyes screwed tightly shut._

_He laughed coldly and spat in the blond boy's face, earning another frightened yelp._

"_Not so powerful now are you demon! A monster like you doesn't deserve to live any longer!"_

_With that, the villagers began beating every inch of the boy that they could reach. They carved words onto his chest and stomped on his limbs till they were shattered in several places. They poured salt into his open wounds and repeatedly bashed the back of his head into the ground. They were heartless in their actions upon the child, intent on seeing the tiny blond dead._

_Said blond wasn't even able to stay conscious for an entire minute, but by the time he had blacked out, it was a welcomed safe haven from pain worse than he'd felt in his entire life._

_Or so he thought..._

_The blond slowly opened his eyes with a whimper, squinting out to see if any of the villagers were left in the alleyway. To his surprise however, he found that he wasn't in the alleyway anymore, nor was he in a hospital._

_He stood, eyes widening as he realized his injuries were seemingly healed, and that he was in a sewer-like hallway he'd never seen before. He couldn't say he'd ever want to see a place such as this though, the walls were merely mold and grim covered pipes of all different sizes, some glowing red, some glowing blue. Disgusting green water coated the floor for as far as he could see, endlessly dripping from the ceiling and walls. The entire hallway had no light in it, only being lit because of the pipes glowing and a sickly green colored hue that hung in the air like miasma. The smell was something he'd never want to experience again, and the air itself felt heavy and damp on his skin._

_Naruto warily walked down the darkened hallway, stopping suddenly when he heard a massive rumbling sound coming from somewhere to his left. The boy's eyes widened at the size of the noise itself, being enough to cause him to stumble from the shaking of the foundations of whatever he was standing in._

_Something big was in here with him...and by the sounds of it, something evil._

_Completely ignoring his better judgment, the blond continued on in the direction of the noise, oddly feeling drawn to it. The air grew drier and hotter as he went further into the complex of hallways, soon, sweat formed on his brow from the heat._

_Another rumble, this time even more massive than the first, caused Naruto to abruptly stop in order to stay on his feet. He realized with a shock that he was shaking slightly and now sweating freely in the oppressive heat. The air felt so dry that it almost became painful to breath, like it was burning his throat._

_The boy took a shaky breath and continued on._

_After a few more turns, the air felt like it was actually pressing down on his shoulders, like actual weight. By now, the boy could only get hoarse, gasping breaths in._

_He stumbled around another corner, falling to his hands and knees, when the feeling completely disappeared._

_That feeling, however, was replaced with another one that Naruto thought to be the very worst feeling he had ever felt in his life though. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, his skin developed goosebumps, and he unwillingly let out a small gasp._

_The blond knew if he looked up, he'd find what had been causing the air's condition, but he also knew he'd find what was scaring him so badly that he couldn't move as well. An erie silence settled over the room, seemingly daring the blond to look up._

_Taking short gasping breaths due to his fear, he slowly raised his head, blue eyes finding a massive cage-like gate._

_Naruto gaped in amazement for a moment, his fear pushed aside at finding a gate that was nearly ten stories tall in a sewer system of hallways. The gate itself looked to be made with heavy stone, cracked in several places, and apparently only held shut by a piece of paper reading "seal"._

_The blond began calming himself, seeing that nothing was behind the massive gates. The dreaded feeling had disappeared as soon as he had looked up as well._

_As if to spite the boy though, as soon as his breathing was back under control and he was back on his feet, the feeling returned at full force._

_Naruto felt his legs wobble, staggering backwards to use the wall for support._

_His blue eyes widened as they shot back to the massive gate, finding something that literally froze him with fear._

_Massive, bloodshot, blood red eyes, eyes that promised eternal pain and suffering upon anyone that the owner wished it, stared back at the boy. An enormous set of fang-like teeth formed an evil malicious grin under the eyes. The teeth themselves were at least twice as tall as Naruto was._

_A red outline detailing long ears and nine tails appeared behind the being, the demon._

_Naruto was still frozen, his breath caught in his throat, when it let out a harsh laugh. With the laugh, blood red chakra began to seep out through the cage bars._

_Naruto stumbled forward on shaky legs, coming to a stop some twenty feet from the demon's cage._

_He opened his mouth in an attempt to speak, but as soon as he did, the feeling the air brought upon him earlier returned full force, this time worse, and in the form of the red chakra._

_He let out a gasp in an attempt to draw in breath, finding that he could not. The boy immediately collapsed to the ground, eyes wide and shaky, body spasming and shaking uncontrollably. The oppressive chakra was crushing him, not even allowing him to breath._

_As soon as it hit him though, it vanished._

_Naruto gasped in a large amount of air, and slowly looked up, his dazed eyes darting around the room in an attempt to gain his bearings, just in time to see the last of the red chakra get drawn into the seal._

_The demon was still grinning that unnerving grin at him._

"_**Brat!"** His voice caused a shiver to run down Naruto's spine. **"I'm so glad I could finally meet you in person!"**_

_Sarcasm coated every inch of the demon's voice as he waited for the small boy's response. Said boy, however, could barely move his mouth, much less reply._

_The demon, seeing this, continued. **"Speechless are you brat? No matter. I didn't expect a mere mortal to be able to withstand my presence anyway, much less a child."**_

_At this point, Naruto finally found his voice. He spoke shakily. "W-w..." he swallowed quickly and steeled himself. "W-what are you?"_

_The giant being's grin grew larger. **"You mean you don't recognize the Kyuubi no Kitsune? Greatest of all demons?!"**_

_The blond's eyes widened. "But-"_

_He was cut off. **"Oh yes, I'm "dead" aren't I" **A vicious laugh rang out through the damp sewer, causing it to tremble. **"Nothing can kill me brat! I was only sealed!"**_

_The Kyuubi's grin grew ever larger as he sneered down at Naruto. **"Guess what brat! The Fourth Hokage never killed me, the Fourth Hokage sealed me! That damnable man sealed me inside of you!"**_

_Naruto felt his eyes widen as the meaning of the statement his him, before his world faded to black once again._

**_End Flashback_**

Naruto came to a stop just outside of thirty feet from Kyuubi's cage, about the range the demon could project its chakra before it was forcibly suppressed.

"Kyuubi!" The blond called out, now as accustomed to the demon's aura as a human could ever be. He was still caused discomfort, but it was bearable.

The usual malicious red eyes and vicious grin appeared in front of him. **"Why brat, I'm touched...you actually decided to visit me!"**

The boy ignored the demon's sarcasm. "I need access to your powers. If I don't start training with them now, it'll just get harder as I get older...I need to know how to control your chakra."

Kyuubi let out a cruel laugh. **"And what makes you think you can control my chakra brat? What makes you think I'll even let you try?!"**

"You want something in return, right? That's what foxes do after all, they trade...am I right?" Naruto replied.

The kitsune narrowed his eyes slightly. **"What do you have to offer me that would make it worth access to my chakra, brat?"**

The blond forced himself to look the legendary demon in the eyes, an immensely hard task. "My sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. I'll share my senses with you...let you see what I see and hear what I hear."

A grin filled with blood lust appeared on the great demon's face. **"Alright brat, you've got a deal. I'll give you direct access to my chakra, you allow me to share your senses. All you have to do it tear off a portion of the seal." **The grin never left the demon's face, it merely grew larger.

Naruto warily but determinedly walked forward to his tenant's cage. Upon reaching the massive doors, he applied some chakra to his feet, allowing him to walk up the surface to the seal.

The blond knelt down on one knee and, after looked at the Kyuubi's grin one last time, tore a small portion of the seal off.

Immediately the room was filled with red chakra, this time though, it did not suffocate Naruto. In fact, the chakra flowed into his body, accompanied by the feeling of power so strong that the boy fell off the gate due to lack of concentration.

Naruto was disoriented for nearly a minute before the Kyuubi's sinister cackle brought him out of his stupor.

"**Well, there you have it brat. You can train with my power, I get to share your senses..." **He trailed off, his grin returning full for before he let out a massive evil laugh. **"Oh, and did I mention our minds are connected enough now to communicate mentally?"**

The blond in front of the demon narrowed his eyes, about to ask what the Kyuubi meant by that. Before he could speak, however, he felt himself being pushed from his subconscious by the great demon's chakra.

* * *

Blues eyes opened again to take in the room as he had left it. The boy absently noted that his sight was sharper and more precise than he remembered it being, but disregarded that in favor of checking on his "visitor". The red headed girl in question was still sleeping quietly in his bed and by now the sun had gone down.

Naruto himself was quite exhausted after his talk with the Kyuubi and the events from earlier in the day. The boy knew Kyuubi was planning something, but like every other time, he had no idea what it was.

Sighing in resignation, he got to his feet and made sure his red headed visitor was comfortable. After having done that, he walked out to his living room and collapsed onto the couch for a fitful night's sleep.

* * *

**A/N:**That's it for the prologue, tell me what you think.

I'd particularly like to hear about how I did the battle scenes...I've never been confident in my ability to write them, so I'd like to know what you guys think.

Obviously this chapter'll be shorter than the averge one, being that it's only a prologue

One last thing...when it comes to consistency in writing, I'll remind you again. I. Suck. Ass. I'm warning all of you now, though I'll try to keep the updates within 2 weeks of each other.

Oh...and the whole kage bunshin thing and how Naruto knows it will be explained in time.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **First off, I'd like to thank those of you who reviewed. The response to the story helped to both encourage me to continue it and fdevelop/adjust certain aspects so that it'd be a better story in general.

One review concerned me a bit though, it involved the Kyuubi's healing factor and its effects on Naruto. Last chapter, the only places where that factor could really be witnessed was when his hand was broken and the flashback scene (which I didn't really add an ending to quite yet, so it's just the hand).

Now, I know Naruto heals faster because of the Kyuubi, but the time between his hand being shattered and him having to carry Tayuya was only a minute or so long, not nearly long enough for even Kyuubi to heal a broken hand (in my opinion). I've always looked at the healing effect as scaling with how much power Naruto is using at the time as well, if he's only using the subconscious amount of Kyuubi's power he usually does, the healing factor isn't as strong and visa-versa. Hope that clears up some of the issue.

I've spent the past few days fine tuning this chapter in an attempt to set the story's general mood. You'll find that it has a much more serious outlook on the life of a ninja than most other Naruto stories I've read. You'll also find that Tayuya will also have a significant effect on the Naruto we all know from the manga.

And now, without further to do, I give you the first official "chapter" to my story.f

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 2**

Tayuya awoke groggily, groaning at the stinging feeling she received upon sitting up in the bed. She rubbed at her brown eyes for a short moment, before realizing that she was in fact, on someone's bed. The red head forced her brain to quicken its pace in being able to think again, and in doing so, recalled what had happened the day before.

She sighed, determining that she obviously wasn't in a hospital, much to her relief, and decided to focus on getting herself out of bed.

Getting out was easy enough, Tayuya found, it was actually standing that proved to be difficult. The moment she put weight onto her legs, she stumbled forward, having to catch herself on the wall. The red head cursed the idiot who did this to her, but continued out of the room nonetheless, using whatever she could to support herself.

A short time and struggle later, Tayuya found herself in an adjoining living room and kitchen. The size of the room wasn't too large, but it was big enough to live comfortably in.

She started looking around the room in an attempt to find who the apartment belonged to, her attention first focusing on a simple bowl of ramen left behind on the kitchen table, still steaming. The dark brown eyes ignored it, instead turning towards the small balcony, no more than a yard or two in length and width, that was connected to the living room.

The red head could see blond hair from her view point, so she began walking somewhat easier towards the open doorway.

Tayuya eventually made it out onto the balcony to find a blue eyed, blond haired boy around the same age as her, strange whisker-like marks adorning his cheeks. His eyes slitted...like a fox's might be, his features more feral and his teeth had even developed small "fang" like points. The girl noticed that even his finger nails looked to be slightly sharper than normal.

She quirked an eyebrow at him, and addressed the source of her confusion without second thought...she never was subtle, after all.

"What the fuck is with your body blondie?"

The boy's lips twitched upwards into a small smile before he gave her a response. "It's the result of a rather odd situation I'm in." Referring to the unknown part of his deal with Kyuubi that the fox had tricked him into the previous night.

Tayuya's eyes narrowed. "That doesn't even make any fucking sense shit head!"

The blond's smile enlarged into an all out grin. "It makes sense to me though."

"Fuck you!" The red head fumed as she allowed her aching legs some rest by plopping down against the balcony railing.

"Whiskers", as Tayuya mentally dubbed him, laughed softly before he spoke to her again. "What's your name anyway? It's a bit odd for someone like you to be out in the woods, and in that condition too."

"You were out in those woods too dumb shit."

Naruto snorted, ignoring her statement in favor of a question he had. "Can you say a sentence without swearing?"

"Fuck you asshole!"

The blond sighed. "I guess not." He stayed silent for a moment before speaking up again. "You never told me what your name was."

Her reponse was a short "Why the hell do you want to know."

The boy allowed himself a small smile. "You said something about my eyes being the same as something, I assumed you meant your eyes. I see what you meant, now that your awake."

Naruto briefly dropped his happy facade while looking at Tayuya, sadness and emptiness filling his normally bright blue eyes.

The girl kept eye contact with him for a second or two, before her body sagged slightly as she let out a sigh and rubbed tiredly at her eyes. "Tayuya. My name's Tayuya."

The boy next to her nodded. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He paused briefly. "Now...you want to tell me why you didn't eat the ramen I left out for you." His lips were forming back into a grin.

The red head huffed in anger, promptly forced herself back onto her legs, and made her way back inside while muttering a few choice curses under her breath.

* * *

_Weeks Later_

Tayuya had her best scowl in place as she walked down the halls along side a slightly altered Naruto, he had said that he didn't want the extra attention due to his features, and had henged them back to what he looked like before. The two of them were currently at the ninja academy he "attended" for shinobi training, using the word attended very loosely. The blond had taken her to see the Hokage once she had healed up enough to move around freely, and practically ordered the old man to enroll her, which he had done with little argument.

The pair had then headed straight to the plain building from the Hokage's office, planning to attend the day's classes. It had been weeks since Naruto was last seen in the academy, so he figured now would be as good a day as any for Tayuya to experience the inadequate training the classes provided.

Naruto had actually gotten the red headed girl to start training regularly with him. The two of them practiced material that was years ahead of their age group in the academy, and as such, they were far more advanced than most of the class.

Tayuya was abruptly shaken from her thoughts though, as her blond haired roommate stopped outside one of the classrooms.

"This is it Tayuya, you ready?"

She snorted. "What ever blondie, let's just get this shit over with."

"Agreed" Naruto replied as he smirked, and somewhat resignedly entered the room.

Upon crossing the threshold, the two of them placed a note from the Hokage on Iruka's desk and silently headed towards the back of the room. They made it to the back row without interruption, only drawing a few curious glances of the class due to the blond's silent behavior and the new girl next to him, and settled themselves in a corner to wait for the teacher.

Minutes later, Tayuya winced at her first exposure to the volume of the screams of Sasuke's fangirls, fighting over who got to sit next to the blue haired boy. The girl threw a disgusted sneer at the mob before leaning over to whisper to the blond boy next to her.

"Are those dumb shits always like this."

Naruto nodded after having looked in the direction she indicated. "Now you see why I only come every few weeks? The academy's teaching system is extremely flawed. Right now, we're only learning history and the other non-physical parts of being a ninja because they believe we're aren't old enough to try it yet. That's also why idiots like those fangirls have made it this far, they have some brains, but that's it. Right now, your "strength" is based on how well you do with written exams and tests, which is also why I'm the dead last of the class. Ironic huh?" The boy ended with a grin and a chuckle.

The red head let out an unladylike snort. "Then why do you even bother showing up for this stupid shit?"

"You've gotta pass the academy test to become a ninja, otherwise I wouldn't bother."

Tayuya sighed and nodded in acceptance and resignation, attempting to block out the screams of the incompetent girls in front of her to observe the rest of the class.

Her observation was cut short before it even began though, as a man with a scarred nose entered the room and headed towards his desk at the front. The man, Iruka as Naruto had just whispered to her, silently read the note that was left for him and searched the crowd for his new student. He made eye contact with Tayuya briefly, giving her a small smile and a nod before calling the class to attention.

The class quieted, albeit slowly, and turned their collective attention to their teacher.

"Alright class, before we begin our review of the kages, I'd like you all to welcome a new student joining us today." Here he indicated towards Tayuya, causing nearly every eye to be drawn back to the strangely quiet Naruto and the red headed girl. "Her name is Tayuya, I hope you're all considerate to her while she adjusts to the class."

Iruka then began to go over the history of Iwa and its kages, drawing most of the class's attention back towards the front. Any eyes left on Tayuya were quickly adverted once the girl let out her sneer and a vicious glare that Naruto had become accustomed to.

The blond chuckled, life was certainly interesting with Tayuya around.

* * *

_Naruto: 10, Tayuya: 11_

Naruto stretched out on the grass, allowing his aching body to rest, while Tayuya soon laid back on the ground next to him. Both were panting from their most recent spar, a small layer of sweat covering their bodies as they tried to recover lost energy.

The blond recovered first, as usual, rising back to his feet not even a minute later.

Tayuya growled in frustration. She had known the blond for a little over three years now, and yet she still had no idea how he had the kind of stamina he did. He was somewhat of an enigma to her, granted she hadn't told him of her past either, but the fact that she knew so little of the boy she had slowly come to see as a friend frustrated her.

As usual, she went with the blunt approach. "Hey! Whiskers!"

She got a questioning look from his position above her and took that as her queue to continue. "What's with you? You have the stamina of a fucking jounin and the chakra levels to match...you look like a cross between a damn fox and a human, and you always speak in all these stupid fucking riddles! It's annoying!"

Naruto smiled softly, had anyone else been questioned so bluntly about something so private, they probably would have gotten mad. After having spent so much time with the girl though, he knew it was just her way to cover her real feelings, just as he had used his happy disposition and sarcasm to cover his.

The boy sighed softly. "So you want to know about my past?"

Tayuya looked startled for a moment, he had always ignored her questions of this nature before, but quickly regained her train of thought and nodded, eyes slightly narrowed in confusion.

The ten year old blond sat down in front of her, while she herself pulled her body into a sitting position a few feet in front of him.

Naruto started after a few seconds of thought. "I'm sure you've noticed that nearly all the adults in this village hold some sort of grudge or even outright hatred for me...and you as well, since I'm frequently seen with you, right?"

The red head gave him a nod in response. She had noticed the glares and sneers the pair had received over the years, but had taken in all in stride...what other people thought didn't matter, after all.

"Then you must have also noticed that their behavior grows worse whenever it's near my birthday?"

Tayuya nodded again, growing tired of the questions that seemingly went no where.

The blond continued, apparently unaware of his red head friend's annoyance. "The Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked the day of my birthday...but you know that as well, due to the celebrations that are held each year. What you don't know, is that the fox was never really killed. It was sealed inside of a human."

Tayuya's eyes slowly darkened in anger as she realized the things that the blond's statement implied. That the foolish villagers were so blind as to take out their hatred on someone who had no control over what he held. That Naruto had suffered from the ignorance of those he was training to protect. The red head's fists clenched.

Naruto smiled a grim, sorrowful smile upon seeing her reaction. "Yeah...that human is me. An adult's chakra system would have been too developed to accept and even have a chance at surviving having the Kyuubi placed inside them, so since I was born on the day the monster attacked, I got the burden."

The blond took a deep breath sighed somewhat shakily, talking about old wounds was still hard for him, as he hadn't really opened up completely to anyone before. "You know, it was bad before you came along Tayuya. It was real bad. They treated me like shit under their feet and beat me every chance they got. I always used to have to hide behind a mask of endless happiness and pranks..." His smile morphed into a saddened version of the usual happy look, his eyes turned down slightly as they started to water, memories flashing through his mind unwillingly. "I was only four or five when they kicked me out of the orphanage...too young to actually remember, far to young to even survive on the streets.

He let out a quiet, emotionless laugh as Tayuya's jaw clenched, hardened brown eyes actually softening slightly.

Naruto continued with a resigned tone, not bothering to look up. "I was just some plague to them, a being unfit to live, a monster whose only purpose was to be tortured...they didn't care about me, just what I held." A soft, almost silent sob escaped him as his voice grew more uncontrolled. "Beatings became a regular day-to-day thing for me...and I didn't understand why...I didn't even understand WHY!

The blond shook his head to calm himself and drew in a shaky breath. "It continued like that...I'd scrounge around in garbage to eat and live in any card board box I could find...no one gave a fucking shit..." He swallowed hard. "That all changed one day though...I remember it like yesterday..."

It was then that Naruto actually returned his gaze to Tayuya's. The girl's eyes widened and started to fill with tears that she hadn't cried in over 5 years. The normally happy, shining blue eyes were lifeless and dull, mere husks of their former selves, speaking volumes of sadness and betrayal. The red head felt her own defenses she'd developed against her past start to crumble. Her own hardened brown eyes taken on similar aspects that Naruto's blue ones had.

The whiskered boy gave her a sad smile. "I accidently bumped into a lady with groceries one day, I offered to help pick them up, but that obviously didn't help. She started to throw food at me and I ran before the scene could attract attention. One of the eggs she'd thrown had gotten in my eyes though, so I stopped to try and get it out so I could actually see straight..." He let out what sounded to be a mixture of a sob and a laugh. "but that was all the time they needed to catch me."

Naruto sniffed and briefly closed his eyes, sighing softly before opening them and continuing. "They pinned my arms down with kunai, cut straight through the bone and into the ground. They carved all sorts of hateful phrases on every inch of my skin they could see...they crushed every bone that I had, the bastards didn't leave an inch of me untouched..." He trailed off here, now crying silent tears as he drew in a shaky breath. "But the worst part was, I didn't even know why they were doing it...I didn't even get a fucking reason!" His voice, which had been rising in volume, broke off into quiet sobs.

Tayuya's clenched mouth trembled slightly as she allowed her own tears to finally spill from her eyes for the first time in years. The sad smile and silent tears of the boy across from being too much for her to handle. The girl slowly crawled towards her roommate and in an uncharacteristic show of affection, quietly wrapped her arms around him. Naruto placed his own arms around her waist, his head falling against her shoulder as he delved deeper into wounds he never confronted.

"I found out about Kyuubi that night." He swallowed. "The villagers beat me so badly that I was forced into unconsciousness where I meant him...it...though the first time you meet him is more terrifying than anything the villagers could even dream of doing." He let out a shudder unwillingly, the memory still slightly terrifying to him, while he pulled himself closer to Tayuya, desperate for comfort from the only one he really called a friend.

"When I came to, I was still in the alley way, barely alive...apparently the villagers left me to die, slowly and painfully. The Kyuubi saved me though, but only because his life would end if mine did...either way, I lived on. That was when I decided to become a ninja. I decided that I'd never be helpless again." Naruto wiped at his slitted eyes as he drew his story to a close, lifting his head up to look into Tayuya's eyes.

"All these changes are from a deal I somewhat unwittingly made with Kyuubi. I train to control his power and he gets to see, hear, taste, feel, and smell what I do. He told me to tear off a fraction off the seal's physical form, and that ended up giving us mental communication as well as these physical characteristics to my body." Naruto never felt the need to use his henge when around Tayuya, but he always hid his true appearance in public.

"My red chakra comes from him as well...a true blessing and a burden." The boy ended with a humourless laugh.

Tayuya felt herself smile a sad smile as her arms pulled the crying boy's head back to her shoulder, and before she knew what she was doing, she started to talk as well.

"My life started out perfectly. I had loving parents and lived in a peaceful, small village in the forests of Earth country. I worked in my father's blacksmithing shop up until I was seven, when everything changed..."

"My mother became ill with a disease that slowly took away her life, and my father turned to drinking to bury his sorrows. Our family held together...even if just barely, until the day my mother died."

The red head's now dry eyes began to water again with thoughts of her mother. "She was an amazing woman. So kind...always loving." Tayuya took in a shaky breath. "Her death hit my father and I hard, I spent days in my room crying over it."

The girl swallowed heavily. "When I finally came out a few days after she had died, nothing was the same...the house was a mess and it smelled horribly of alcohol. Plates and all sorts of things were broken everywhere...it looked like we'd been robbed."

"I was scared...so I ran into the main part of the house to find my father." She sniffed here, stifling a sob. "His eyes were so cruel when he saw me...so heartless...he started shouting about how it was my fault that she died. About how I didn't deserve to be there."

At this point, Naruto had moved her head to his shoulder and allowed one of his hands to stroke her back lightly. Tayuya leaned into the contact willingly, her own arms moving back around the blond as she continued.

"Before I knew what was happening he had a knife. He beat me first...to make sure I couldn't get away...and then he started slashing at me." A shaky breath later, she continued. "I didn't know it at the time...but he actually wrote things on me with it, he carved into my skin words...he carved into me that...that it was MY FAULT!"

Tayuya broke down, sobbing against Naruto, who had found it hard to keep his eyes from growing wet as well...the boy slightly put his head down on the red head's shoulder again, while she did the same to him, both hugging each other tightly in comfort.

Eventually, Tayuya's sobs slowed, her breathing returning to a shaky state, and she was able to continue. "He left me on the floor to die...I only lived because my neighbor heard a commotion and came over to see what was happening. As soon as I could walk though, I ran...I ran as far as I could...and I eventually found you."

Naruto felt himself smile at the last comment, he spoke to her quietly. "My life turned around when you came into it you know. Someone actually accepted me as me, not some loud fool. I didn't have to keep up that appearance, even though you didn't know the truth back then, it meant a lot to me..." He paused. "Thank you, Tayuya."

Tayuya's response came in whispers. "Don't thank me whiskers...you did the exact same thing for me. Gave me a friend and someone who accepted a foul mouthed little girl."

The blond across from her remained quiet, a somber silence settling over the two of them.

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage smiled down at his crystal ball. The shame he still felt for unwillingly allowing Naruto's torture by his own villagers' hands lightening slightly, if only by just a fraction. He hadn't even known the boy had been kicked out of the orphanage until the night he was found in a near death state between two buildings. Sarutobi had quickly given the boy his own apartment and allowance after that, in an attempt to correct his mistakes...but the damage had been done, the scars carved in too deep.

When Naruto first brought Tayuya to meet him though, the old man felt a glimmer of hope form in him.

Years of experience told him that the two children had something in common, that they might be able to help each other.

They had.

The Sandaime had first noticed the changes in their attitudes mere months after they had met. Naruto's happy facade became more controlled, the boy had allowed a small part of his true feelings to influence his actions, making him more quiet and calm than people were used to.

From what Sarutobi had seen of Tayuya, she also became quieter. Though it was her anger and swearing that diminished.

In the end, the both became more alike one another than the two really even realized. They could tell what the other was thinking quite easily and it seemed like they were able to communicate silently at times.

The Sandaime sighed contently, a small smile on his face, truly happy for Naruto and Tayuya. Children didn't deserve to live such horrible pasts.

* * *

_Naruto: 12, Tayuya: 13_

Naruto landed on a tree branch, using a small amount of chakra to keep his balance, after evading a vicious looking punch from his red haired sparring partner, the twelve year old boy and thirteen year old girl were getting some last minute training in before the genin exams that would take place tomorrow.

The blond still found it hard to believe how much his life had changed since he meant Tayuya. He'd been able to show a little more of what he was really like in public, and the feelings of acceptance he got from the girl still felt as amazing as the day they sat discovering each other's pasts.

His chain of thought was cut off though, as he avoided a nasty looking earth projectile in the form of a spike, Tayuya's elemental specialty. Naruto quickly countered with a jutsu of his own specialty, wind, in the form of a quick chain of one handed seals.

The red headed girl jumped and spun over his _Fuuton: Daitoppa_, then sprinted forward to meet him in hand-to-hand combat.

Her first strike was parried off to the side, quickly countered by a horizontal kick from Naruto. That blow was dodged by jumping over and behind the boy, where she attempted to lash out at the blond's head.

Naruto ducked forward, bringing his leg up behind him in an attempt to kick her chin as he did. Tayuya back flipped away from the blow and jumped farther away to put some distance between the two of them.

The red head started a quick chain of seals before the blond had fully turned around, forming a _Doton: Doryuudan_. The earth dragon shot towards her whiskered sparring partner, who dove wildly to the side, recovering quickly with agility that would match most chuunin, and charged her as the girl sprinted towards him as well.

The two children meant fiercely, both catching each other's fist mere inches away from their faces, before releasing their opponent's hands at the same time, engaging in more taijutsu moments after the break in contact.

Naruto then attempted to sweep Tayuya's legs out from under her, only to have her jump out of range of his leg, quickly pouncing forward before the boy had much of a chance to recover. The blond took a blow to the face, sending him bouncing backwards a couple feet, before he merely disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tayuya immediately brought up her guard and shifted to a defensive stance, waiting for the blond to make a move. She didn't have to wait long, as she heard a growing whistle coming from behind her. The girl ducked and turned to face her partner, only to find that he wasn't there.

A barely audible popping sound from behind her, signifying a _Kawamari_, had Tayuya's eyes widening. Before the girl could do anything, she felt cold steel against her neck.

"_The bastard switched with one of the shuriken"_

The red head sighed and brought up her hands as a sign of defeat, feeling the steel of a kunai leave her neck immediately afterwards. She then turned to face Naruto, finding the boy holding out a canteen filled with water, from which she drank greedily.

Seconds later, after Tayuya had drank her fill, she turned towards Naruto again, finding him sitting against a nearby tree. The red head joined him, sighing softly in relief as she allowed her muscles to relax.

A silence quickly settled over the pair, but it was soon broken a mere minute later by the blond boy. "Can't believe we're actually gonna finish the academy tomorrow...not like the place actually helped us at all." He let out a chuckle and paused briefly, speaking up again a second or two later. "Still seems like these past few years have passed by too quickly."

Tayuya, having grown out of her swearing around Naruto long ago, responded somewhat absentmindedly. "I'm glad. Having to act like we were idiots and hide our skills was starting to get annoying..."

Naruto grinned, silently agreeing with his roommate.

Silence then took over again between the two for several minutes, neither of them quite willing to break the peaceful feelings that the now setting sun brought on.

All good things come to an end though, this time, it came in the form of another one of Kyuubi's sarcastic remarks.

"_**Well isn't this sweet. I didn't know you were this much of a little romantic bitch..."**_

Naruto snorted softly, deciding to ignore another one of the now common remarks from Kyuubi, but stood nonetheless.

"We should get back to the apartment, I don't want to deal with the villagers tonight." He formed a one handed seal as he was speaking, henging his features into slit-less eyes and a more normal human appearance, before extending one of his hands to help Tayuya up.

The red head in question nodded and accepted his hand, the two quietly walking side-by-side back to their apartment.

* * *

**A/N: **And that'll be the first chapter of my story, the actual story line will begin next chapter.

Again, I'd like to ask for your opinion of how I do my fight scenes, as well as how I developed Naruto and Tayuya emotionally. I tried my best, but feedback it always wanted and welcomed.

If you haven't already, read the A/N at the top, I'll always address comments/concerns up there.

Right now, I'm about half way through writing the material I want in the next chapter, so no promises on when it'll be ready.

_**Edit: **Added in ages to avoid confusion on the time skips and changed a few spelled errors involving meant/ment._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Alright, so I've had this chapter sitting around waiting to be checked over for mistakes and small changes...etc...for about two to three days now, figured I should get off my ass and get it ready. I don't know what spurred me to finished this chapter so quickly...but I did it, though I doubt you guys have any complaints over a quicker posting, heh...

Again, thanks to all of you who reviewed. They made previous chapters that much better by pointing out a small mistake here and there.

I'm going to include the larger A/N at the end of this chapter, since I want to address some points in this one. So, here's chapter 3.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 3**

Uzumaki Naruto felt a wave of nostalgia pass over him as he and his red headed roommate walked the halls of the academy for what might be the last time. The two of them had come a long way in their training to be ninja since their first meeting, and today it would finally pay off. They'd be shinobi of the leaf.

A small smile came to the boy's face at the thoughts of what his future might hold, the excitement it may bring. Naruto knew, though her scowl may not show it, that Tayuya was thinking along the same line of thought he was.

Moments later, the pair could be found in the back corner of the classroom that their year was told to meet in for the testing. Both the red head and the blond took a moment to observe their classmates and possible competition for the first time in what seemed like years.

Uchiha Sasuke was quietly sitting at a desk about half way towards the front, hands folded in front of him, apparently trying as hard as he could to ignore the mass of female students trying to get his attention. This was nothing new, the blue haired boy had always been skilled, but at the same time plagued by a horde of fan girls no matter where he went.

Naruto felt a frown come to his face as he focused his attention on said fan girls currently crowded around the Uchiha. Most of them weren't even able to hold a kunai properly, much less react in a life threatening situation. The blond felt no sympathy for them, as it was their own fault for wasting their time trying to attract Sasuke's attention when they should have been focusing on what they signed up for.

He turned his head away from the mob, towards another quiet character, one Nara Shikamaru. To be honest, Naruto really had no idea what kind of skill the lazy boy possessed, which could mean one of two things. That he was either a very talented ninja, successfully hiding his skills everywhere he went, or that he was just plain lazy. Sighing, Naruto hoped for the boy's sake it was the first one.

Next to the pineapple headed boy was Akimichi Chouji. The blond jinchuuriki didn't really know much about him either, realizing with a start that his outcast-like approach to life might not always be the best way to approach things. He only knew that the boy liked to eat, and got quite mad when someone called him fat.

Shaking his head, Naruto turned next towards Aburame Shino. He could truthfully say that he'd never even heard Shino speak before, much less give away anything that might hint towards his abilities. The blond knew of his bugs of course, as they were the Aburame Clan's specialty, but other than that, he knew next to nothing.

Inuzuka Kiba was one ninja-hopeful that Naruto knew all about, due to his naturally boastful nature. The brown haired boy's taijutsu was something you wouldn't want to face in a fight, and when combined with his partner, Akamaru, it would become all the more fierce. His _Gatsuuga_ was a technique that the jinchuuriki had no intention of facing anytime soon, after seeing what was left of a wooden training post that the dog ninja had used to show off.

The whiskered boy then turned his attention towards one of the of last his classmates, Hyuuga Hinata. From what Naruto knew, she was one of the only two competent kunoichi in the class, Tayuya being the other, while the rest of the girls were just about as good as mindless idiots. Hinata though, un-like most Hyuuga, seemed to lack a massive amount of confidence and arrogance. Naruto had seen her second guess her decisions and movements in the training exercises he actually attended over the years, concluding that if she gained some confidence, she'd be a tough opponent to beat. The Hyuuga's taijutsu style was not to be underestimated, after all.

Naruto nodded to himself, sharing a glance with Tayuya, both coming to an understanding that they had come to nearly the same conclusions about the rest of the class.

Their lack of participation in the class made it hard to accurately guess where everyone's skill level was. Nonetheless, they knew Sasuke and possibly Kiba were not to be taken lightly. If Hinata gained confidence, she would go far. The pair knew too little of Shino, Shikamaru, and Chouji to say much, and the rest of the class basically consisted of idiot fan girls, only there to pursue their "precious" Sasuke.

Naruto sighed and leaned back against the wall behind him in his chair, content to relax until Iruka arrived to explain their test. Tayuya silently moved her chair next to his and laid her head down on his shoulder, the boy's arm wrapping lightly around her waist, it was something both had become accustomed to, and even comforted by over the years they lived together.

The two of them didn't have to wait long though, as their chuunin teacher soon entered the room minutes later, causing the pair to return to their previous positions at their table. He laid a pile of papers down on his desk and turned to face his class, which had grown quiet in anticipation.

"Alright everyone, today is the day you've all been waiting for. Konoha'll see some new genin by the end of the day, huh?"

A chorus of answers in the affirmative was all the reply Iruka needed, nodding to himself.

The scarred man held up a hand to quiet the children, and spoke again. "Well, I suppose it's about time I told you what you need to do to pass then, isn't it?" After a brief pause and a look around the class, he continued. "The genin exams are usually decided using a combination of a written test's score and a practical test's score, but this year, that's changing slightly."

Iruka's face took on a solemn look. "I'm not going to lie to you. The amount of genin we've had die on recently underestimated missions has risen to a startling number, so the academy tests have been made more difficult as of this year."

The expected groans that came from the majority of the class did nothing to surprise Iruka, he knew it would be for their own good in the end anyway. Only those that were ready to face becoming a ninja should truly be able to pass the exams.

The chuunin held up his hands for silence again. "Now, this year, we'll put you through a written test again, though it's slightly harder. Any of you who don't pass it, will have to repeat the last year here until you do, or drop out." Iruka felt being blunt was a good approach here...he hoped...

"For those of you that pass the written portion, you'll then be put through a practical exam like the years before, though this one will require you to think on your feet and use your abilities well." The sensei made sure to make eye contact with every one of his pupils here in an attempt to convey the actual seriousness of the situation.

"If you pass both of those tests, you'll be put into a three man squad with a jounin sensei as your instructor. That jounin sensei will give you your final test, and if you pass that, you'll become an official genin of the Leaf." Iruka ended his explaination with a friendly smile, hoping to rid the some of the frowns that his students had on their faces. He knew it wasn't exactly fair to just spring this on them so suddenly, but it was needed. The life of a ninja was not a walk in the park, this was being done to save lives.

Sighing, Iruka continued on. "Well, let's get started then, alright?" He went back to his desk and gathered up the stack of papers he had placed there earlier. "This is the written exam you'll have to pass, I wish you all luck."

With that, he began passing out the papers to the hopeful genin.

* * *

Tayuya leaned back in her chair, a content smile on her face. Not only had the instructors finally toughed up around this shit hole of a school, but the test itself was still below the level she and Naruto were at.

The red head chuckled as she looked around the class, it seemed some of the little ass holes in the room were even more stupid than she thought. Tayuya noticed the Nara lazily looking around the room, his test completed, as well as the stoic Aburame. The Akimichi looked a bit nervous, as well as the Inuzuka, but both had finished their tests. The last Uchiha was looking as bored as ever with his test done, while the self-confident Hyuuga kept her eyes glued onto her overturned, completed test.

The girl let out a puff of air after having taken a deep breath, before continuing throughout the class. As she expected, most of Sasuke's fan club was still staring blankly at the papers in front of them, except the pink haired one...she actually seemed to be able to complete it. The red head then turned to the loud mouthed blond that was the pinkie's top rival for "#1 most annoying Sasuke fan girl©", as she and Naruto had dubbed it. The Yamanaka girl was looking just as panicked as the rest of the majority of the Uchiha's fan club.

Tayuya sighed, better to eliminate the idiots now anyway.

The red head finally turned her attention to the blond sitting next to her, who was, as she expected, done with his test and currently looking out a window.

She nodded to herself, happy that her roommate wasn't a complete idiot.

* * *

Iruka looked up from his desk, seeing that it was time to collect the tests from the hopeful genin. He stood up and walked to the front of the room, drawing a much larger amount of panicked glances from the class than he did last year.

"Alright everyone, time's up. If you'd head up to the front and turn in your tests, you can take your lunch break. I'll have the tests graded by the time you get back in, and we can continue from there."

The students obeyed, and soon, Iruka was left in the classroom with a fresh stack of tests to grade.

* * *

Naruto allowed his dangling leg to swing slightly from his perch on a tree branch outside the academy. He had long since finished his lunch, and Tayuya, who was currently seated on a branch just underneath his, had finished hers as well. Now they were both merely waiting for Iruka to call them back in for their pass or fail grade.

It wasn't Iruka that first disturbed the pair's silence though, rather, it was the lone Uchiha who addressed them from the ground.

"Oi. You two."

The red head and the blond both looked down at him silently acknowledging him to continue.

Sasuke nodded to himself. "You two are more competent that you let on, you've been skipping these pathetic excuses for lessons to train on your own, haven't you?"

Tayuya smirked while Naruto responded for the two of them. "Yeah, though I think you've been doing the same thing eh?"

The blue haired boy nodded. "Our class is the one that gets the worst end of this harder version of the academy tests, the instructors must have made the decision to make them harder sometime in the middle of the year. Meaning that our class got the same lessons as the one before ours, but a much harder test at the end of the year." He paused for a slight breath. "If people like us hadn't trained outside of class, everyone would be failing right now, with what the academy taught this year."

This time, the red head spoke up for the pair in the tree. "So it looks like you're not just some pretty gay ass prodigy with a fan club. You actually have some worth huh?"

Sasuke's stare hardened. "Don't judge me based on those idiots that follow me around all day, if you haven't noticed, they're finally starting to see what being a ninja really means with that test. The hard work it requires. Why do you think all of them are so sullen now...too much to even beg for my attention." The boy finished with a somewhat vindicative smirk, as if finding his fan girls' realizations funny.

Both Naruto and Tayuya nodded, this time the blond speaking for the two. "It's better that they learn the world isn't all fun and games now, rather than a couple seconds before they die."

The Uchiha merely grunted out a reply before silently walking away.

* * *

Umino Iruka stood in front of the portion of his class who had passed the written exam, which was admittedly less than he had hoped for.

The man sighed and looked down at the list in front of him. As much as he hated to admit it, the only students that he saw as having even a chance at passing the next exam were Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. The rest of them may have the book smarts, but having the knowledge and using it are two completely different concepts.

The chuunin shook himself of his thoughts. "First off, congratulations for making it through the first exam, I'm extremely proud of all of you." He took a moment to smile at his remaining students. "Now, all of you have to pass a physical exam in order to get an official chance at becoming a genin of Konohagakure. So, I won't keep you waiting, let's head outside."

The brown haired chuunin led his class outdoors to the academy's training field. Numerous weathered training dummies and wooden posts stood around the clearing. Iruka nodded to himself after having walked out into the field a good distance, before turning around.

"Alright, there's actually two parts to this test. One being basic abilities with kunai, shuriken, and the academy jutsu, the other being a basic simulation of something you might face on a mission. We'll be doing the portion with kunai and shuriken first."

He paused for a moment. "First, all of you will be required to throw ten shuriken and ten kunai at targets ranging from ten to twenty yards away, you will have five seconds for the shuriken, and seven seconds for the kunai. Any questions?"

After the chuunin saw no hands being raised, he started the tests. "Right then, Aburame Shino, you'll be first."

Said boy walked to the front of the remaining group of eight students, taking the required amount of throwing weapons in hand.

Just over twelve seconds later, including the short break between the two tests, the boy returned to his place in line, having earned a prefect score.

The process repeated as such, Chouji passed with an above average grade, Sakura failed, being unable to hit the minimum amount of targets required under the pressure of time. The Hyuuga heiress scored a prefect through seemingly practiced ease, Shikamaru passed, though he barely made it under the time limit. Sasuke passed the test easily as well, drawing a collective sigh when he did so from the crowd of females he had drawn by merely stepping outside.

Naruto, after sneering at the idiot girls off to the side, completed the test by actually showing some of the skills he and Tayuya had practiced on their own. Many suggestions that the dead last had cheated were promptly shut down by Iruka, who moved onto Tayuya without even blinking at the protests.

The red head passed just as easily as Naruto did, both of them finding the academy tests far too easy.

Iruka then had the remaining students preform the _kawarimi _and _Bunshin no Jutsu. _Shino, Chouji, Hinata, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Naruto, and Tayuya all passed easily.

The former dolphin anbu sighed after his red haired student finished, mentally adding up the scores of the written and throwing exams for each of his hopeful genin.

Seconds later he had finished. "Alright, congratulations on passing part of the test, you've all done very well. Now there's only one more step to go before you'll be assigned a jounin instructor." The man nodded and smiled at the seven remaining children. "Please follow me to complete the last test."

Without warning, the man dashed out of the training field, heading towards central Konoha.

Naruto and Tayuya barely spared a second glance at their fellow classmates before sprinting after the chuunin, using chakra to enhance their movements beyond the limits an average genin could achieve.

The rest of class seemed to snap out of their stupor at that point, Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata moving after their instructor barely a moment later, followed by a sighing Shikamaru and a somewhat startled Chouji.

Several yards ahead, Naruto and Tayuya were just hitting the tree line that Iruka had disappeared into. The pair could faintly make out his figure jumping through the trees in front of them, realizing that they'd lose him at the pace they were currently traveling at.

Both sped up, pushing more chakra into their movements and taking risks in traveling that they never would have otherwise. Both of them had trained with weights over the years, and were suddenly glad they had decided to leave them at their apartment for the genin test.

At this point they could keep up with Iruka, if only just barely, and the man wasn't actually trying to stay far ahead of his class. They jumped through the trees at a speed most genin would find amazing, but in doing so, created easily recognizable signs of travel on the trees. If the two had paid more attention, they would find that, strangely, Iruka was doing the same thing.

Said chuunin was finally reaching the edge of the small forest they were traveling through, coming upon the actual city that was Konoha. He immediately jumped from a tree onto a nearby building, heading in the general direction of the massive dome that was the Hokage tower.

The man fought back a smile as he jumped across an alley way, onto another building's roof, his students wouldn't have such an easy time following him now that he was out of easily track able territory.

With that thought in mind the man left a tiny, barely noticeable kunai mark on the edge of the roof he was currently traveling on, barely losing any speed with practiced ease before continuing on.

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage and the jounin that could possibly become instructors, depending on the students that passed the genin exam, stood around a glowing crystal ball. All of them were currently observing the potential genin go through the last part of their practical test.

Sarutobi nodded, his eyes alight with happiness. "Naruto and Tayuya continue to surprise us. They've both come a long way, considering their pasts." A moment later the old man spoke up again, humor evident in his voice. "Though I had hoped they would actually grasp the meaning of the test...instead of just...keeping up with Iruka."

The jounin in the room let out a few chuckles and nodded as one, all of them somewhat impressed that two academy students had managed to keep Iruka in their sight.

Hatake Kakashi spoke up as the crystal ball changed views, this time showing Sasuke jumping across buildings, Hinata and Shino just a few yards behind. "It seems these three have grasped the meaning behind the test, they're doing well in tracking Iruka, even using the signs Naruto and Tayuya left behind."

There were murmurs of acceptance around the room before the crystal ball trailed back to Chouji and Shikamaru. The former was taking time in tracking down his instructor, causing him to fall behind the rest of his class, while the latter was actually walking on the ground, merely following his childhood friend up in the trees.

A collective grin spread across the room, a scattered amount of chuckling as well. Sarutobi Asuma spoke amidst the mirth. "Doesn't surprise me, those two probably already got together and discussed the meaning behind the test...and I'd bet my next paycheck Shikamaru managed to convince Chouji to take it slowly."

The Hokage smiled. "I believe you're right, but unfortunately, speed still counts in the exam...I'm afraid the two of them will have to wait till next year..."

The mood immediately turned somber at the statement, all of its occupants silently watching the globe.

It was now showing Iruka closing in on the Hokage Tower, within fifty yards of it.

They didn't have to wait long, for seconds later, a slightly winded Iruka came in through an open window, landing neatly in front of the Hokage's desk.

Sarutobi nodded at the chuunin, giving him a small smile in thanks for his efforts, before turning back to the glowing ball. Naruto and Tayuya were now closing in on the tower, both had drawn a kunai and slowed to a more manageable pace.

They watched as the two children made eye contact, slightly nodding, before the red head fell in step behind Naruto.

Not a moment later, said blond darted through the open window, throwing himself into a somersault across the floor. He came to his feet, bracing himself with a foot forward, just as Tayuya came through the window. The girl twisted in midair, repeating Naruto's somersault across the floor, only backwards. She came out of it off balanced, and showed the room why the blond had braced himself.

The red head's back hit the whiskered boy's behind her with a small thud, before they both readied themselves for an attack, only then observing what was in the room.

Once the pair came across their Hokage's amused smile, they relaxed, stowing their weapons back in the pouchs on their thighs.

Iruka, un-noticed by the two students until now, spoke up. "Well done you two, we've got to wait for your classmates before we go any further though, so please make yourselves comfortable."

After the Sandaime nodded his acceptance, the pair sat next to each other against a wall, Tayuya sighing and placing her head on Naruto's shoulder, while the adults turned as one back to the globe on the desk.

Sasuke had steadily been putting some distance between himself and the Hyuuga heiress and Aburame boy, so he was around a second or two ahead of them and within thirty yards of the tower.

The blue haired boy ended up taking a different entrance into the room, lacking the support that Naruto and Tayuya had. He jumped to the window and dropped to the floor immediately in front of it, sliding a foot or two along the wall as to have a solid surface against his back. Like the two before him though, he dropped his guard and stored his weapon when he saw the room's occupants, but before anything else could be said, Shino and Hinata made it through the window.

The two of them landed around a yard or two into the room, nearly yard between them as well. It was at this time that Iruka got a chance to speak again.

"Well done, the three of you. We still have to wait for your remaining two classmates before we continue though, so please make yourselves comfortable."

The newest trio in the room then noticed Naruto and Tayuya sitting slightly off to the side against the wall, the three of them joined their fellow classmates in silence and began to wait.

Nearly five minutes later, Shikamaru climbed up to the window, lazily lowering himself into the room with Chouji landed quietly behind him.

Iruka gave them a comforting smile. "Good job you two, you've managed to track me to this room, however, you were both failed to do so with the necessary speed required for a genin. I'm sorry to say you'll have to take another year at the academy."

Chouji looked down, depressed, while Shikamaru merely sighed out a "troublesome...". The Akamichi looked up moments later though.

"Oi! Shikamaru, you said if the slow approach failed us, you'd buy lunch!" The boy cracked a grin. "I want barbecue."

The Nara sighed again, glaring at the room's occupants like it was their fault he was in this predicament. "Alright alright, let's go...troublesome."

With that, the two left through the window they came in, leaving the room's mood noticeably lighter than what it had been when Iruka informed them of their failure.

After a moment of silence, the Hokage cleared his throat, effectively turning all attention towards him.

"Well then, it is my pleasure to congratulate the five of you on passing Konoha's genin exams! I will discuss the make-up of your teams with Iruka and the other jounin instructors, during that time you are free to do as you wish." He paused briefly before continuing with a nod towards the new genin. "You are dismissed."

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there you have it, chapter 3. Hope it was up to standards...now, before you go off and do whatever it is you're going to do next...read this next part, I want to get everything clear before people get mad that their favorite character didn't pass.

First off, Kiba was a toss up for me, and I ended up having him fail the written exam merely because it fit easier into the plot. Don't worry though, he, Chouji, and Shikamaru will all still play a part in the story, though it's likely not until around the Chuunin Exams.

As for Sakura and Ino, the former was able to pass the written exam easily for obvious reasons...for all her faults, Sakura wasn't stupid when it came to academics. I couldn't see her passing the practical exams though, obviously, so she has to wait. As for Ino, I was thinking along the same lines as Sakura. Both of them were fan girls in the real Naruto-verse, and that hasn't changed here, so she didn't pass either.

Now then, I also want to mention that I'm going to write this in as un-biased as I can, bashing characters is funny to an extent, but it doesn't fit in with the story here.

Finally, the lunch scene in the tree is there for a reason. Usually I wouldn't be writing about this, but I want to get this across now. Sasuke isn't the usually arrogant idiot he is in other stories...which also make him out to be considerably weak. He wasn't top of the class for nothing, the Sasuke in my story still seeks power, but he's not as obsessed with it as I've seen in other stories. Truthfully, I liked his character before Orochimaru got to him with his seal, it was only then that he became truly obsessed with power.

I've droned on long enough, see ya next time.

(Oh, and if I get in trouble for the Copyright symbol in the middle of the chapter for any reasonat all...I'll take out, though I doubt anyone really gives a shit)


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **The reviews I got for the previous chapter were among some of the oddest I've received, from complements to suggestions, good criticism to just plain "update"...heh. Nonetheless, the changes made due to those reviews have in turn made this story better over all (yah, I finally got around to changing the sound nin reference in the "future scene"), thanks again for your response.

Two reviewers now, I think...have brought up the _Kage Bunshin _issue and how Naruto learned it. I'll be completely honest and say I forgot to fit that in, however, I think I've got a nice way to add it in to the next chapter and not disrupt the flow of the story.

Hope that satisfies/answers any and all questions you people might have.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 4**

Naruto and Tayuya walked side by side down a busy street in Konoha. Usually, the two of them would never be caught outside in daylight on such a busy street, but they were currently wasting time until they could go back to the Hokage tower for their team assignments.

The pair still had another half hour and they had already eaten dinner, so they went to the sole ninja shop in Konoha that treated them equally. The place had been run by the Bukisenzoku family for generations, the current patriarch of the family being the one who looked after the shop. The old man had a daughter in the year above Naruto and Tayuya, but neither had seen more of a passing glance of her.

The pair entered the shop, greeting the man at the counter with a small smile and nod each before separating to gather what they needed.

The usual replacements of kunai and shuriken were needed, and the pair were low on exploding tags, so they picked some of those up as well. After having grabbed what they needed, the roommates wandered around the shop for a while longer, eager to waste away time in a place they felt comfortable.

Nearly ten minutes after entering the shop, Naruto stopped to look at an object that caught his attention. A pair of navy blue goggles made of a durable looking material the blond couldn't identify sat by themselves on a shelve to the side. The lenses were a clear green color, and there was a complex looking seal on either side of them.

The man at the counter noticed the object of Naruto's attention at that point, and called out to him from the front of the store. "Those are specially made Naruto, just got them from a rather skilled crafter for a bargain...too many ninja these days care about their appearance, they seem to think they'd be laughed at for wearing something like those."

The whiskered blond was still staring at the goggles as he replied. "What do they do?"

By now Tayuya had turned her attention towards the conversation.

"They allow the wearer to see in the dark, that's what the odd looking lenses do, and the crafter even got Jiraiya of the Sannin to place special seals on them."

That comment got Naruto's un-divided attention, while Tayuya merely looked on in interest.

"What do the seals do?" The blond asked with clearly hidden excitement.

The old man, Jiro, smiled. "Why don't you find out for yourself? Put some chakra into the one near the left lense of the goggle."

Naruto took the goggles from their shelf and did as the old man asked. Moments later, a pair of odd looking masks were in his hands. They were made of a hard material, unbendable anyways, and had another seal placed on the insides of each of them. They were meant to fit over the mouth and nose, and had three narrow slits for breathing where the seal lay on the inside.

The man at the counter smiled. "Those masks allow the wearers to breath in whatever is in the air at any given moment, poisonous or no. The seals inside cleanse the air that comes through the slits before it gets to the user."

The blond was giddy with excitement, he had never cared what other people thought of him before, and as long as something was valuable to a ninja, he'd use it. "What about the other one?"

Jiro smiled. "Try it out."

Naruto did so, this time finding two tiny ear pieces and a pair of equally small microphones in his hand.

Before he could ask, Jiro started speaking. "A pair of wireless communicators capable of working at distances well over what the normal standard issue ones would. These are also more compact than the usual versions. The masks even have a built in spot for the microphone inside of it. You and a partner" Here the man looked not-so-subtly at Tayuya "could communicate easily with them."

The blond's mouth was wide open and he was doing nothing to correct it, so after nearly ten seconds, his red headed roommate felt she should help him out. She stepped up next to him and used her hand to shut his mouth harder than what was necessary to shake him out of his daze.

Naruto took a step back and briefly shook his head, but went on undeterred in amazement of the goggles. He turned to Jiro as if Tayuya hadn't just slammed his mouth shut.

"How come no one has ever bought these? Surely they'd see the value as being more than worth a couple laughs."

The old man chuckled and shook his head. "You'd be surprised at what society's opinions could make a ninja do...it's rather pathetic actually."

Naruto nodded while Tayuya chose this moment to finally speak up. "So are you gonna buy those blondie?" Her face split into a grin as she spoke.

The whiskered boy returned her grin, for different reasons, before he replied. "Yeah! These are amazing!"

The girl's grin widened. "I'm gonna give you so much shit."

Naruto's grin never faltered. "I don't care..."

Another chuckle from Jiro brought the two out of their thoughts. The man then addressed them. "Normally, those would be well out of your spending range. Since I got them at such a low price though, and seeing as how you'd probably be the only one who would actually wear them, I'll cut you a deal you can't refuse..."

* * *

Five minutes later, Naruto and Tayuya walked out of the ninja shop. The blond had his new goggles around his neck, mask and communicators stored inside the seals.

Jiro called out to the two as they were exiting through the doorway. "Oh. By the way, just push a little chakra into the masks when you want to wear them, they'll conform to shape of your face and stay there surprisingly well until you push more chakra into them to get them off."

Naruto nodded and thanked the man, then going back to admiring his new purchase.

The goggles themselves weren't all that big, a compact and sleek design made them optimal for any ninja. The dark material they were made of helped to stop reflections from giving away positions as well.

However, for all their usefulness, Tayuya still made cracks about them whenever she could. Naruto might have been hurt had he not known that the girl wasn't serious in her teasing, it was merely her way of showing affection, to an extent.

It was for this reason, that after one of her comments, Naruto responded to her with his own playful jab.

Tayuya had snorted and spoke through her face-splitting grin. "Well, at least now I'll be able to call you something you truly deserve, right? Four eyes?"

The girl broke down into a fit of giggles, missing the glint appear in Naruto's eye. The blond took on a face of complete seriousness, a hint of a smirk tugging at his lips. "Well Tayuya, then I suppose I should do the same for you."

The whiskered boy allowed his smirk to show when confused dark brown eyes looked up into his bright blue ones. "After all, I think something along the lines of 'beautifully gorgeous' would fit you perfectly." Naruto was sure to draw out each and every one of the syllables of his new "nickname" for her.

He had said all this in a perfectly emotionless face as well, while the girl next to him stopped walking all together. Her mouth was wide open for all to see and a bright red flush had appeared on her cheeks as she tried to comprehend what her roommate had just said.

Before she could recover though, Naruto stopped attempting to hold back his mirth, and merely burst out laughing at her reaction.

That startled Tayuya out of her daze though, as her left eye began to twitch while a sickeningly sweet smile formed on her lips.

"Naruto!" She half sang, half chirped. It served to quiet the boy though, who was now warily looking back at her.

In seconds the red head's face turned into an expression of fury. "I'll kill you!!"

How she managed to terrify him, all while wearing a playful grin, Naruto would never know.

* * *

A short time later, Sarutobi and Iruka could be seen waiting in the former's office alongside two new jounin instructors and three of the young genin who had just passed their test. The six shinobi, and the lone kunoichi, were now just waiting for Tayuya and Naruto.

As if the pair knew they were being waiting on though, they arrived...though not in the way anyone expected.

The blond came into view first, an annoyed look on his whiskered face. The rest of the room didn't have to wait long to find out why, as Tayuya appeared soon after him, a content smile on her face.

Though, the red head wasn't walking...no...

Naruto was carrying her on his back.

The boy stopped once he entered the room, allowing the red head to get off of his back, before anyone could say anything, however, Tayuya spoke up.

"Now, that wasn't so bad was it?" A grin formed on her face while she mockingly messed up his already uncontrollable blond hair.

The boy merely grumbled, much to the amusement of those in the room.

Tayuya then looked up, as if noticing the curious looks she was getting. She elaborated. "He decided to play a little joke on me."

The red head then turned to walk over to where her fellow genin were standing, satisfied with her short response, and a smirk on her face to show it. Before she could get far, however, Naruto subtly locked ankles with her for a brief moment, but that moment was enough to send the girl tumbling to the ground while her blond roommate was sent into a fit of stifled laughter.

Sarutobi smiled slightly, very rarely did one get to see the two children act as care-free as they were now. The old man watched in amusement as Kakashi separated the two, who had taken to rolling around on the ground, wrestling for dominance, and placed them at the end of the line the genin had formed in the room.

The Sandaime allowed the laughter to die down before he spoke up, a smile still on his face. "Now that our last two genin have arrived, we can proceed with your team assignments."

"Due to an unusual number of graduates this year, you five will be divided into two teams, a three man squad, and a two man squad. The three man squad will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino; your jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi." Said jounin's eye revealed he was smiling at his team while he held up a hand, greeting them with a "Yo".

The Hokage continued a second later. "Obviously, the two man team will consist of Naruto and Tayuya; your jounin sensei will be Gekkou Hayate." Here a sickly looking man with brown hair stepped forward and offered a small smile to his new students, which was returned in kind.

The elderly Hokage wrapped up the conversation and meeting after again pausing for a brief moment. "Your sensei will give you the final test you must pass to become genin. You are dismissed."

* * *

Gekkou Hayate walked at a leisurely pace down a street in Konoha. He was leading his possible genin team towards a particularly unique training ground, but the blond and the red head didn't need to know that.

The jounin let out a cough as he turned a corner minutes later, passing by a sign that read "Training Ground 13". In passing around the corner though, the two genin following him found out why this training ground was considered to be out of the ordinary.

Instead of the usual training posts or small lakes most training grounds could offer, this one had a building sitting right in the middle of it.

Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion. He had never been to this training ground before, and while it was a rather large distance away from where he and Tayuya frequented in Konoha, he couldn't see how he could have missed such an odd training ground. A look towards his red headed roommate told him that she was thinking along the same line as he was.

In their earlier years, the pair had to learn how to sneak through Konoha and avoid detection for their safety. In doing so, they knew most of Konoha like the back of their hands.

Hayate cut off their thoughts at that point though, unknowingly answering the question they had been thinking about. "This training ground is only used for one purpose, so it's usually hidden by a genjutsu to avoid unnecessary questions. You two, however, are the first pair that can match what it was intended for in quite a while...so the genjutsu was lowered." A few random coughs were heard throughout his explaination, but Naruto and Tayuya ignored them in favor of what he was saying.

"You see, everyone in the Hokage's office at the end of your last test noticed your unique ability to coordinate with each other without even really thinking about it. That gave the Sandaime an idea." He paused here as a coughing fit caused him to stop. "Basically, you two will be the first ninja team focused solely stealth and assassination missions in a long while. What I mean is the pair of you will take missions that revolve around killing unnoticed, getting in somewhere and out without being seen, stealing an item that needs stealing, so on and so forth."

The jounin let out a cough as he attempted to give them a smile. Your teamwork and coordination skills makes you perfect for such missions. Now...I suppose you want to know why I brought you to this particular training ground and what's so special about it, right?"

After receiving two nods, he continued. "This building is wired with all sorts of security systems and alarms, it's made specially for stealth teams like yourselves...however, none of the new ninja from the academy quite fit that category as well as you two do, so it's mostly just used by a random hunter-nin who wants some practice. Obviously, the difficulty has been lowered to around a high genin-low chuunin level...this means that I don't expect you to cleanly get through everything, just the majority of it."

"Your objective is to retrieve a scroll, that scroll's location inside the building is currently unknown to me, so you'll not only have to work your way around the systems, but find and extract the scroll as well."

Naruto and Tayuya both looked at each other before the red head spoke up for the pair. "Hayate-sensei, could we have a minute or two to prepare. Blondie and I have a couple things back at our apartment that we normally use when he sneak around the village, but didn't bring with us today."

The jounin nodded, inwardly surprised that the two of them had items that could help on hand. What the sickly ninja didn't know though, was that Naruto and Tayuya were not above stealing when they absolutely had to, they lived honestly the majority of the time...but when someone was unfair to them in what they sold. Well, that person usually found a couple items missing whenever the next inventory was taken.

* * *

Naruto and Tayuya were jumping across roof tops minutes later, heading back towards the training grounds where their sensei was waiting. The pair had gotten a few items they found handy when they needed to break into a store. Most of the things they used were already on their person, as it was part of their usual ninja gear, but something like a simple magnet wasn't as common amongst shinobi, and the pair had no idea what they were up against.

Once they were back in front of Hayate just over a few minutes later, he greeted them with a smile, speaking after a cough. "All of those items are something you two would usually take on a mission with you, right?" Upon seeing the two nod, he nodded as well. "Alright then, whatever you went back to get should be fine. Now, if you'll follow me, we can get you started."

The older man led them around a corner of the two story building and to a plain looking door.

The jounin stopped in front of said door before turning to speak to them one last time. "There is a time limit of one hour, and a requirement that you must get past at least half of the traps and security systems inside to pass. Do you understand?"

After hearing a clear "Hai" from both his students, he nodded and opened the door, waiting until both of them were inside before shutting and locking it behind them.

The jounin then walked farther down the wall and released a small amount of chakra towards a specific portion of it. The genjutsu hiding multiple screens was broken, allowing Hayate to observe his students from the hidden cameras within the building.

The cameras themselves weren't part of the security system, they were merely there to observe what was happening in the building for anyone who might need to; there were ten in all, placed in major parts of the building, most of which being the room that the scroll was held in.

The sickly jounin realized with a start that he should have told his students to ignore the cameras, but seconds later, he shrugged it off. The devices were well hidden under genjutsu, genjutsu that no ordinary genin should be able to break.

Little did the man know that Tayuya was no ordinary genin when it came to genjutsu.

* * *

_Now, I usually don't suggest this, but I was listening to some music while I wrote. Go look up either "Shithole Theme" or "NARUTO - techno beats"(4th video) on youtube if you want. I think it improves the quality of the test scene._

The second the door closed behind them, Naruto and Tayuya took a moment to observe their surroundings. They were merely in a small room, barely a couple yards in length and width, a windowless door that lead to the rest of the building standing in front of them. The room itself seemed to be used for simply preparing for the stealth practice.

Naruto turned to the red head next to him, releasing both seals on his goggles as he did. He handed a mask and communicator to Tayuya, putting his on as he did so. Once they had both secured the masks and put the ear pieces in, the blond spoke.

"Test."

Tayuya nodded upon hearing him from the earpiece and just as she would normally, repeating the procedure on him in turn, and getting the same positive results. The pair then turned towards the door, each pulling out a kunai as they did so. Naruto positioned himself against the wall on one side of the door while Tayuya repeated his actions on the other side.

The blond looked towards his partner and nodded, placing his hand on the door knob and giving it a push. The door swung open, but neither moved until it was wide open, and nothing had happened. From their position behind the walls, the pair could see that the next room had no light in it. Naruto put on his goggles, allowing him sight in the darkness, before whispering out a sentence or two to Tayuya.

"I'll take lead, we'll stay against the wall, stay behind me. On 3."

The blond counted to three with his fingers, only moving into the room once the third was up. He quickly ducked around the doorway and into the darkened room, seeing nothing but a plain hallway ahead of him in green tinted vision. The boy stayed flat against the wall, kunai in front of him, as Tayuya joined him and copied his position less than a second later.

"Move." Naruto said as he stuck close to the wall, continuing down the hallway to the lone door at the end. The boy made sure he could sense Tayuya behind him all the way, it wouldn't due to be separated.

The blond was a bit put out, however, when they reached the end of the hallway without problem.

Nonetheless, once they had reached the door, he spoke up again.

"Door in front of us. Stay where you are, I'll take up position on the other side."

The boy did so, and moments later placed his hand on the door knob.

He pushed the door open after signaling to Tayuya, who was close enough to see his outline and grasp what he was trying to tell her.

The first thing Naruto realized, was that the room was lit. He removed his goggles as he heard Tayuya speak up from her position where she was peaking around the corner.

"There's a genjutsu in the far right corner of the room, strong too...must be hiding something important."

"Can you take it down?"

"Give me a second, from this distance, it'll take some time."

The blond nodded, then busying himself with attaching a small magnet to one of his kunai while Tayuya took out the genjutsu around the camera.

Nearly twenty seconds later, he heard her whispered voice again.

"Done. Hand me the kunai, I already know where it is and my face has already been seen."

Naruto tossed the kunai up and over the door frame, where Tayuya caught it before it could hit the floor and make a sound.

It wasn't long before that kunai was embedded into the wall right next to where the camera was, effectively crippling the device.

A whispered sentence later, and Naruto ducked into the room, repeating his previous actions of sticking against the wall near the door frame, while Tayuya did the same, only on the other side.

The first thing they noticed in the entirely white room, was that several of the panels on the floor had slightly darker outlines than the rest. It was as if those panels weren't connected to the rest of them, signifying that they would most likely sink when someone stepped on them, obviously springing a trap.

Naruto spoke without taking his eyes off the room. "Panels."

"Yeah. Senbon ready to launch from the ceiling about halfway across too."

The blond only then noticed the barely visible line of ninja wire that was stretched across the width of the room, which was about twelve feet wide. That certainly explained the senbon in the ceiling.

"Alright. I'll take lead."

Tayuya nodded and followed the blond as he began weaving his way through the room, avoiding all panels with a darkened outline and the wire in the middle of the room as well.

The two of them made it without incident to the next door, where they took up their usual positions on either side of it. Naruto opened the door without second thought and let it swing into the next room.

It was dark, they didn't even need to be inside to see that, but a whistling sound they were all too familiar with was heard as well.

The blond put his goggles back on and made a one handed seal. The pair didn't like the sounds the room was making, the same sounds weapons make when they fly through the air.

Their dilemma of how they were going to find out just what was making the noise was solved though, as a clone of Naruto ducked into the room, dispelling itself seconds later after having observed what would be the next obstacle.

"The whistling is being caused by a wind jutsu blowing through holes in the wall. There are several sets of ninja wire halfway through the hallway, none above waist level."

The pair passed through the doorway and set off down the hallway, Naruto in front.

Had they not had the goggles, the roommates would have kept low to the ground due to the whistling sound, thus setting off the traps that the ninja wire signified. The whiskered boy silently thanked the fact that he had bought them while he helped Tayuya over the wires in the darkness, the pair of them making it to the other side of the hallway without any further problems.

Unfortunately, due to the red head's blindness in the dark, she missed the genjutsu covered camera that caught their every move on tape.

Unknowing of this fact, the two positioned themselves on either side of the next doorway, the blond allowing it to swing inwards once more.

Naruto removed his goggles as he saw light spill into the darkened hallway, and counted with his fingers as a sign of when to move. Once he got to three, he darted into the room, finding that it turned around a corner after only a yard or two of heading straight.

He and Tayuya stayed flat against the wall, edging closer to the end of it, with Naruto positioned in front of the red head.

The boy spoke before he went any further though, cursing his stupidity for not thinking of this earlier.

"Check and see if there are any genjutsu around the corner."

The pair quickly switched positions, Naruto ready to pull his red headed partner back around the corner should anything be set off by her head peaking out of its hiding spot.

"Another camera."

The blond needed no further prompting as he prepared another magnet attached to a kunai.

Half a minute later, the camera was no longer a problem.

Tayuya had also managed to find out what they faced in this room while she was taking care of the genjutsu.

"Simple ninja wire traps with a low genjutsu over them. I took down them down alongside the ones on the camera. Follow my lead on three."

The pair made it past the ninja wire traps and that room in general with no further problems. Soon they were once again on either side of the next doorway, the blond allowing it to swing fully open like he had before.

The room was lit, so Naruto quickly glanced around the corner.

"No traps seen, appears to just be a staircase. It turns around a corner about eight feet into the room."

Tayuya then repeated her partner's actions of looking around the door frame.

"No genjutsu. On three."

The two moved quietly into the room seconds later, the red head in front, stopping just before the corner.

The girl checked for more genjutsu, this time finding a camera farther up the stairs. Twenty seconds later and another camera was disabled.

They made it up the stairs without any further trouble and were soon positioned outside a new doorway. Naruto opened this one like he had the rest, waiting for it too fully swing inwards before looking inside.

The pair found that the next room was a rather long hallway, lit until about halfway down the length. Tayuya found no genjutsu in the part she could see, though there were a few more panels with darkened outlines.

Naruto then looked around the corner, goggles in place, only to retreat back behind the wall a mere second later.

"I can't see anything. Too much glare from the lights. We'll have to get past them to have any idea what's in the rest of the hallway."

After a reluctant nod from Tayuya, they set off down the hallway along the wall, Naruto leading.

They avoided all the traps in the light side of the hallway easily, only stopping just before the darkness became to hard to see in, pressed tightly against the wall.

The blond saw no traps in the darkness with his goggles on, so they continued somewhat warily down the hallway.

About halfway to the door though, Naruto felt a tug on his foot. He barely had a chance to curse under his breath before a few blunted kunai impacted his side. It knocked the wind out of him, but he was otherwise unharmed.

The pair recovered as quick as they could and made it to the doorway without further trouble, but the whiskered boy spoke before he opened the door.

"They were hidden by genjutsu. I wasn't able to detect it. You should wear the goggles in the next dark room."

Tayuya nodded, which Naruto took as his queue to swing the door open.

It turned out, however, that the red headed girl wouldn't need to wear the goggles, as the door had revealed a massive lit room. Said room stretched in height for both stories of the building and had a walkway circling around the perimeter of it where the second floor would have been. The width of the room nearly doubled the height.

A staircase lead down to the ground level, where the scroll sat on a desk, on the other side of the room. The walk way was fenced in, preventing the pair from merely jumping down to grab the scroll.

Upon further inspection of the room, Tayuya found that there were several cameras placed around the second floor of the room. All of which, however, were currently out of her range to dispel genjutsu.

Naruto sighed silently before he led the way into the room, sticking to the wall of the walkway as he and his partner circled around to the staircase.

About half way across the room, the pair stopped to disable one of the cameras, and continued. The other one was still out of the red head's range.

They made it to the staircase after avoiding several obvious ninja wire based traps, where they took a moment to disable the other known camera in the room.

After that was done, Naruto looked down the staircase, checking for any traps, while Tayuya did the same soon after he had.

The red head found a trip wire under a genjutsu that the blond hadn't, but the stairs were otherwise clear.

The pair reached the concrete of the ground floor seconds later, and after both had checked, failed to find any traps in between them and the desk.

So, Naruto and Tayuya approached the scroll slowly and warily, blond in the lead, both keeping an eye out for any movement.

They reached the desk without any problems though, which only served to heighten their suspicion.

The pair thoroughly checked for any traps around the scroll before they made any further move. After a couple seconds of searching, the red head whispered over their communicators that she had found a length of genjutsu'd ninja wire leading from underneath the desk and into the ground. Upon further inspection, her blond partner found a tiny hole just barely visibly under the scroll, he could also now see the thin line of wire wrapped lightly but firmly around the scroll.

And so, the pair was left in a dilemma. The real scroll could be on the desk, attached to an unknown trap, or it could just be a diversion, a fake.

Neither wanted to touch the ninja wire, let alone cut it to free the scroll, so they looked around the room for anything that might give away a potential hiding spot.

After nearly five minutes of searching, they found a particularly odd looking section of the wall...or rather, Naruto did. Tayuya dispelled the genjutsu around the tiny part of the building, revealing what the two had come for. The scroll sitting in a tiny hollowed out part of the wall.

Both of them slowly made their way over to it, careful not to set off any traps that they might have missed. They stood in front of it seconds later, ready to finish the test, but the red headed girl stopped her partner before he could reach out for the scroll.

"Sometime isn't right about it. It doesn't look right...it's edges are blurred."

"I can't see anything different about it, it's probably a genjutsu."

Tayuya nodded. "I think it's a double layered genjutsu, which is why is barely looks abnormal. I'll get to work on dispelling it."

It took the red head nearly five minutes in the end, due mostly to the fact that she had to unravel two genjutsu at once, but she succeeded.

The scroll in the wall though wasn't what it originally appeared to be. It had been under an illusion to not only look like the scroll, but also to hide the ninja wire wrapped around it. It turned out to be nothing more than a simple kunai set to activate some sort of trap through the ninja wire once it was moved.

The pair tracked said ninja wire up to the ceiling, where they saw what had to be the scroll they were told to retrieve. It, unlike the previous two, had the seal of the Hokage on it, and was currently hanging inches away being shredded to pieces via shuriken. If the two had touched the fake in the wall before, their mission would have been a failure.

After Tayuya mentioned that they only had a few minutes left, Naruto quickly created a shadow clone to do the dirty work of retrieving the scroll from the ceiling. At this point, they were rushed to finish within the time limit, so the clone darted up the wall and over to where the scroll was, grabbing it without second thought.

The moment it laid a hand on the object though, hundreds of blunted kunai shot towards the unfortunate bunshin.

The scroll slipped from its grasp as it was brutally destroyed, falling lightly into Tayuya's waiting hands.

The pair shared a sigh of relief and allowed their shoulders to sag, just as their sensei walked into the room through a door that had seemingly appeared in the wall.

* * *

**A/N: **Another chapter finished, hope you all enjoyed the test Naruto and Tayuya went through, it was a bitch to write.

I'm also not 100 sure that a magnet will do the same thing it does to a tv/computer, to a camera. If anyone could confirm that it does disrupt it in some way, shape, or form, I'd appreciate it.

Also, excuse my lack of imagination when I tell you that Bukisenzoku roughly means "weapon specialist" in japanese.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Alright, it's been about three weeks since I last posted, mainly because getting ready of classes to start and various family obligations took up a lot of time.

To make some things about the last chapter clear, I didn't mean to make it seem like Naruto was putting the magnets on the kunai without anything holding them in place. I visualized him as using ninja wire, but nonetheless, I apologize for the confusion on that part.

I went back over the earlier chapters and fixed minor errors I found in them, as well as changing a couple sentences' wordings around.

Other than that, I can't think of anything else to say.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 5**

The morning following their jounin-given genin exam found Naruto and Tayuya walking idly through the streets of Konoha. They were heading towards the training ground that Hayate had designated after their meeting with the hokage yesterday.

Naruto felt a smirk appear on his face as he remembered the event, absentmindedly fingering the metal of his hitai-ate that he was using as a belt.

_Flashback_

_Hayate had just finished describing the actions of his potential genin in training ground 13. The man stepped back into line next to his team while Sarutobi's face took on a calculating look._

_Naruto and Tayuya started to shift on their feet as the silence dragged on for nearly a minute, the hokage seemingly in thought the entire length of it. They shared a nervous look just as Sarutobi cleared his throat, his eyes focused on Naruto's._

"_Naruto, I'm going to be separating you and Tayuya, am I understood?"_

_Both jaws of the hopeful genin clenched as they absorbed what the old man had just said, there was no outburst though, as their control over their emotions hung on by just a thread._

_The blond spoke up in a strained voice. "Yes, Hokage-sama, understo-"_

_Sarutobi smiled and held up a hand to stop whiskered boy before he could finish. "You've both done very well, it is with no small amount of pride that I present you with your hitai-ate. You are now officially Team Hayate."_

_The two new genin had confused looks firmly plastered on their faces as they accepted the head bands, asking a silent question that the Sandaime answered as they secured their hitai-ate on their persons._

"_I was only confirming something by telling the two of you that you were to be split up, don't worry, you are still a team." The red head and the blond put their confusion aside for the moment as smiles appeared on their faces._

_Sarutobi allowed a short silence to stretch on before speaking again. "Though, I must admit, Naruto, that I'm curious as to how you know the _kage bunshin no jutsu_; care to enlighten me?"_

_Said blond's face took on a look of thought for a moment, realization coming to him seconds later. "Oh yeah...remember that time you left me in your office about six or seven years ago? You said something about an urgent matter that couldn't be ignored and left without saying anything, conveniently forgetting about a certain scroll you were modifying on your desk."_

_The Sandaime coughed behind his hand to hide his embarrassment. He remembered that day very well, that was the day he had almost lost his entire Icha Icha collection to a small house fire. "Ah, I see." He paused briefly. "Well, I believe I will have another new genin team reporting in soon, you are dismissed. Congratulations Naruto and Tayuya."_

_End Flashback._

Naruto was dragged out of his thoughts, courtesy of an annoyed Tayuya that he happened to be ignoring in his thoughts, just as he and his partner came into view of their jounin sensei. The man looked as sickly as ever, his usual jounin vest and bandanna-like hitai-ate present on his person.

Hayate's face split into a small smile as he began walking towards his new team, meeting them in the middle.

"Hey you two, get a good night's rest?"

Two nods were his reply.

"Good. We'll be starting missions later today, and the training you two will be doing before hand won't be easy either." With that, he gestured to the pond that was present in the training ground behind him. "You're both on the way to becoming some of the best stealth specialists the ninja world has seen, but neither of you can properly hide your chakra presences. That's what the water is for."

He paused as he started to lead his two students towards the pond. "Both of you will work on hiding your chakra "auras", so to speak, while you stand on the water."

Hayate gestured for the two of them to go stand on the water, stifling a coughing fit as he did so, and waited until they had turned back on the water to face him before he started speaking again.

"Now, both of you look down." They did as asked. "You'll notice that there are tiny ripples in the water around your feet. Those ripples mean that your chakra control isn't as good as it should be."

Both Naruto and Tayuya started to protest at that point, but the sickly jounin cut them off before they could start. "Don't get me wrong, your chakra control is amazing for fresh genin, but in order to hide your chakra presence, you need exceptionally good control. This exercise will only help you get to that level of control."

A cough stopped the jounin from going further, so Tayuya chose that moment to speak her thoughts. "So basically, you just want us to improve our damn chakra control so that we can hide ourselves from enemies better?"

Hayate nodded. "Once there are no ripples around your feet, I'll teach you to suppress your chakra." The man stopped speaking here, but continued on in a side thought. "Suppressing your chakra not only hides you from enemies, but it also dispels any genjutsu that might be on you at the time, since you're basically just stopping the chakra flow in your bodies down to the absolute bare minimum needed to survive."

Both his students nodded and went about focusing on their control while the sickly jounin sat back on the grass, a content smile on his face.

* * *

"You two made surprising progress today with your chakra control, more than I expected actually. Either of you have any idea why?" Hayate was leading his genin to the hokage tower after he felt they had practiced their chakra control enough, going over the training as he did so.

Tayuya shrugged while Naruto took a shot in the dark. "Maybe because we never really masteredwater walking, we just practiced it to the point where we could do it without really thinking about it."

Hayate nodded after his latest coughing fit. "I believe you're right Naruto. The two of you most likely _learned _how to water walk, but you never _mastered _it." The jounin let silence take over after that statement, before realizing he had forgotten to tell his genin an important detail of the missions they would recieve.

"By the way, you two will skip doing D-rank missions, instead, you'll go straight to doing C-rank. The other team that graduated with you will be doing the same thing."

The blond and the red head shared a confused look, the latter voicing their thoughts. "Then who the hell gets stuck with all those annoying ass D-rank missions?"

Hayate smirked amusedly, knowing fully well that he shouldn't encourage her language. "The ninja hopefuls that don't graduate and stick around for another year will do them as practice."

Tayuya's coming vindicative comment, if her smirk were anything to go by, never made it out of her mouth though, as the three ninja reached the hokage tower for their first mission.

* * *

_One month later_

Naruto shot a hopeful look down at his feet, searching for any ripples that could have formed from faults in his chakra control. The blond's face split into a grin upon finding that there was nothing but perfectly smooth water around him. He let out a triumphant yell that attracted Tayuya's attention from her place on the shore.

"Finally got it right blondie?" The red head had gotten her control to a satisfactory level days ago, and wasted no time in pointing that out to her blond partner whenever she could.

"You're just jealous of my massive stores of chakra, it takes some real skill to control it!"

Tayuya snorted, obviously preparing a retort. Their sensei chose that moment to speak up though, ending the conversation before it could go any further.

"Oi! Both of you come over here, I've got something you should hear."

The faces of both genin split into sly grins before they started over to where Hayate was waiting.

"So Hayate-sensei," Naruto started.

"We hear you have some-" Tayuya continued.

"Important information that-"

"Simply _must _be heard by our ears."

They paused.

"Please, do tell." The two of them finished together, complete with sickly sweet smiles on their faces.

Hayate closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, fighting off the possible headache that came whenever he spent too much time around his genin. Once the two of them had gotten used to being around someone, they would drop their usual serious facade to an extent, showing a little more of their playful nature instead. The sickly jounin had the privilege, or curse as he would say, to know Naruto and Tayuya well enough after a month that they felt comfortable enough around him to drop their facades a little.

Hayate quickly found though, that around anyone his genin didn't feel comfortable with, they would revert back to their somewhat cold and calculating persona.

An unwanted cough shook the jounin from his thoughts though, and also served to remind him what he had to tell his team.

"Right, you two, I have something to tell you." He ignored Naruto's quiet comment of "I think we've already extablished that sensei," and Tayuya's accompanying snicker that followed it, in favor of continuing.

"The chuunin exams will be held at Konoha this year, in just over six months. I've been chosen to be a proctor for part of the exams, so I won't be able to train with you or take missions with you as much as I was able to before."

The sickly jounin paused to allow himself a cough or two before continuing. "Usually that'd cripple a team's mission capabilities, but you two got lucky. Hokage-sama thinks that the two of you are mature and skilled enough to start going on C-rank missions without my having to be there."

Both of the genin had focused their entire attention on the conversation at this point. "Up until now you've gone on typical C-rank missions that most veteran genin and rookie chuunin take, things like bandit removal and document deliveries."

He paused to cough. "That's going to change though. Hokage-sama is going to start sending you on stealth missions from now on, things that will test your abilities." He took in a breath and cleared his throat. "Now, let's head over to the tower, Hokage-sama said he had a mission for the two of you; I can tell you how to hide your chakra on the way over there."

* * *

Naruto idly tugged on his new clothing as he waited for Tayuya outside the room they shared in their apartment. The two genin had gone to see Sarutobi just hours earlier to receive their mission; they were to assassinate a tyrant named Gatou. The man had slowly taken over all the seaports that the island nation of Wave had to offer, causing severe starvation and poverty throughout the population. Those people came together and worked up just enough money for a assassination mission though, hoping to lift the plague that was Gatou from their lives.

The blond tugged at his form fitting undershirt again, the feeling of it completely foreign to him. The Sandaime had suggested that he and Tayuya get darker clothes to wear on their stealth missions, as well as a way to hide their heads. So it was for that reason that the roommates found themselves stopping to buy ninja clothing on their way back to the apartment

They had ended up buying very similar clothes; black pants that were tied off at the ankle as well as the usual black ninja sandals, both had gotten a tight black undershirt as well. The only difference between the two of them could be found in the color of their shirts, Naruto had gotten a dark blue short sleeved shirt while Tayuya's was a maroon color.

The final items the two had bought currently lay on the couch next to Naruto. Both of them needed a way to hide their heads, as the masks would only cover so much of their faces, so they had gotten black cloaks complete with hoods to hide their identities.

Naruto looked up at the sound of a door opening, finding that Tayuya had finished changing into her gear. He took their masks and communicators out of the seals on his goggles and tossed her a pair before placing his over his mouth and nose. The blond paused as his partner placed her mask on as well, taking a deep breath in to calm himself.

Soon after, the two of them had pulled on their fingerless gloves and donned their cloaks; they pulled the hoods over their heads and checked over their gear one last time before heading towards the main gate.

It took them only a few minutes of jumping over rooftops to reach the primary exit of Konohagakure. Once there, they got a rare respectful nod from the chuunin guards on duty as they made their way out, no doubt due to the fact that the pair of idiots had no idea who they really were.

Both genin ignored the guards and kept walking on the road until Konoha faded out of sight, a slightly uneasy feeling of anticipation present lingering over them. Naruto took another calming breath and broke the nervous tension by playfully shoving his masked partner on the shoulder, promptly jumping into the trees to continue their journey afterwards.

Tayuya smirked under her mask before following her idiot of a partner into the trees.

* * *

It ended up taking Naruto and Tayuya four days to reach the shoreline where they would find the boat their cilent provided for them. They had no trouble in their travel thus far, most likely due to the fact that the villagers had secretly sent the mission through a carrier bird, and neither of them had any problem with that fact either. In their minds, getting in and out without being noticed was the best possible result, even if it was unrealistic.

The first thing Naruto noticed about Wave Country was the thick fog, as if it was reflecting his thoughts of a kill without anybody seeing them. The blond was also able to see a rough outline of a massive bridge from under his hood, no doubt being built by the population to overcome Gatou's tyranny. The bridge's presence made Naruto sure that Gatou had hired help in the masses, the only thing that concerned him about it was the quality of men that were hired.

His thoughts were stopped, however, when the shoreline came into view through the nearly blinding fog. A sigh of relief came from Tayuya behind him. Both were glad to be out of the fog and able to actually see a possible enemy farther than ten feet away.

The genin stepped on shore a moment later as the fog started to clear. They allowed themselves to gain their bearings for nearly a minute before Naruto heard Tayuya's voice through his ear piece.

"Where the hell was our cilent at again? I was only half aware of what the old man was telling us..."

Her blond partner snorted. "He said the guy's name was Tazuna, and that he could be found on the northern end of town. He's old, grey hair and everything, and lives in the only house that has a dock leading to it."

Tayuya swung her arm over Naruto's shoulders to give him a squeeze while she responded, the grin that no doubt adorned her face clearly heard in her voice.

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around blondie."

She got a grunt for her reply as the blond shrugged her arm off and began heading towards town, hiding his chakra as he did so. Hayate had said hiding your chakra was a lot like holding your breath, that it was almost an unconscious thing that everyone knew how to do with a little guidance. Naruto found that his sensei had been right, he and Tayuya had been able to learn how to hide their chakra in the time it took to walk to the hokage's office. As easy as it came to them though, the side effects of hiding their chakra successfully were crippling; enhanced movements using chakra were no longer useable, as well as any ninjutsu, genjutsu, or any chakra using jutsu for that matter.

The blond brought his attention back to the present, silently thanking their sensei for helping them gain the control needed to hide chakra, as he advanced through the now tolerable fog.

The pair stopped moving once they reached the outskirts of what appeared to be a town. In truth, it was hard to tell. The buildings were run down and almost in ruins, trash had been throw all about the streets in the villagers' attempt to find food, and no one could be seen outside.

"Depressing place..." Naruto muttered as he and Tayuya crept towards the building nearest to them. Once they had hidden themselves in the cover of the run down building, Naruto spoke up again.

"We should probably try to avoid being seen, it'll make things easier in the end." Tayuya nodded her agreement.

Seconds later, they had vanished into the alleyways of the broken city, heading steadily north.

* * *

Tsunami idly attended to the admittedly meager amount of food she could cook for her son and her father. Her hands moved with practiced ease in their task of preparing dinner while her thoughts were on a completely different path.

It had been a struggle living in Wave ever since Gatou took over the trading ports, prices on everything rose while wages went down. Hired thugs freely roamed around the once peaceful town, doing whatever they pleased. Tsunami had even heard rumors of a brothel that was supposedly created, and that Gatou's men were taking women from their homes to use for their own twisted pleasure.

She shuddered, silently willing those rumors to be false, as her son entered the room with the usual defeated look on his face.

"Inari, there you are!" Are you about ready to eat?" Despite the situation she and her family was in, the mother inside her still tried to cheer the small boy up, speaking in a cheerful tone.

Her son's reply was a dull "Yeah, sure." He said nothing more as he turned to walk out of the room, ignoring everything around him.

Tsunami sighed softly while her hands continued to work on the food, a look of sadness appearing on her face. Her family was a hollow shell of what it used to be, and it was all thanks to the despicable man named Gatou. She bit her lip in an attempt not to let her emotions overwhelm her, but as if the world was out to get her, Tazuna entered the room from the back door at that moment.

"Hey swe-" the man stopped his sentence as he saw her face, moving to wrap his arms around her instead as he spoke up again, this time in a quiet tone.

"What's the matter Tsunami? Did something happen while I was working today?"

The woman shook her head against her father's shoulder, silent tears streaming down her cheeks. She took a shaky, calming breath seconds later before answering.

"T-that despicable man Gatou! Why is he doing this?! Why us!?"

Tazuna's eyes softened as he started running his hand through her hair in an attempt to comfort her.

"Ssssssh... it'll all be alright soon, he'll be gone and we won't ever have to worry about him tormenting us again."

Tsunami shook her head again. "What if the mission wasn't accepted though! What if we didn't have enough money to pay for it?!" She had lost any form of control over herself at this point, the grief and stress that had built up over time finally overwhelming her.

The old man frowned slightly, finding that he had no answer to that. "Everything will be alright, just you wait, everything will be just fine."

Any further conversation was cut off at that point though, as Tazuna saw the shadow flicker outside the kitchen window over Tsunami's head. The man quickly addressed his daughter.

"Tsunami, stay in here, alright? Don't come out into the living room until I say it's safe."

The woman nodded, rubbing at her eyes as confusion over her father's actions set in. Tazuna walked out of the kitchen at a brisk pace though, not giving her a chance to ask why he had suddenly gotten so panicked.

The brown haired woman sighed as she turned back to their meal, busying herself with finishing it while using her confusion to distract her thoughts.

Just when everything had quieted down again though, she heard a loud bang followed by Inari screaming in fear.

Tsunami dropped what she was doing, her father's warning forgotten the second her son screamed, and entered the living room.

She couldn't stop herself from gasping at the sight of two of Gatou's thugs in her house, swords held lazily in their hands. Unfortunately for her though, the gasp brought the attention of the room to her.

The thugs immediately got leering grins on their faces. "Well well, looks like this was worth the visit. I think we found another for the brothel eh?"

The other bandit laughed coldly as he nodded. "Startin' that up was the best idea we've ever had."

With that, the two men moved towards Tsunami, who was frozen in place, a fearful look on her face. A sudden movement snapped her out of her daze though, as both Tazuna and Inari were attempting to intercept the bandits.

"No! You won't take Kaa-san!" Inari's eyes were filled with more life than they had been since his "father's" death.

The bandit nearest to the boy merely wrapped his hand around child's neck and lifted him over two feet in the air, while the other thug back handed Tazuna across the face, sending the old man sprawling to the ground.

Tsunami was shocked out of her stupor as she saw the bandit holding Inari raise his sword, muttering "Teach you to try and stop us, kid," as he did so. The woman took in a sharp breath and sprinted across the room, ignoring the fact that she would never reach her son before the bandit's sword did. The other bandit grabbed her before she could get within five feet of his partner though, holding her in place as she was forced to watch her only son get killed.

A sickening slice was heard, the bandit dropped the severed halves of what he was holding to the ground.

* * *

**A/N: **Ah yes, cliffhangers, love em.

This chapter was shorter than most of the other ones...due mainly to the fact that this was a good spot to end it.

Finally, because I feel so horribly bad about making all of you wait three weeks (please ignore the sarcasm there), I've decided to share with you some of the random observations I've gathered in my time on this site.

Grammatically incorrect stories almost always have more reviews than correct ones. Guess people like to give reviews that go something like "OMFG! Your english sucks!!11!eleventyone" rather than "Your grammar is amazing and I cannot find any mistakes." Go figure.

Yaoi, Yuri, and Harem stories get insane amounts of reviews compared to the good old het (I think that's what it's called...) stories. It's my belief that all the people who whine about yaoi stories will go read some yuri, and those that bitch about yuri will read yaoi. That's some society we have today eh?

I know I had a few more of these "interesting" facts (in my mind) for all of you amazing readers, but I can't really be bothered to think of them at three in the morning.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'll try to get the next one up in about 1-2 weeks.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Seems like it was just yesterday I was posting the chapter before this, seems like two weeks have flown by. Anyway, I reread the last chapter's A/N and saw that it came out a little more harsh than I meant it to sound. I'll go ahead and blame that on my sleep addled brain attempting to put the finishing touches on a chapter at 3 in the morning.

Again I'd like to thank all of you for your thoughts/criticism/whatever else you put in the reviews, I enjoy getting the feedback and it helps me along with writing chapters.

I can't think of anything else to say right now, so without further to do, I give you chapter 6.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 6**

Naruto and Tayuya were perched on a tree outside the house they believed to be Tazuna's. The pair had arrived just as two of Gatou's thugs broke in through the front door and had immediately went about setting up a way for them to keep their client safe without revealing themselves.

A log and two shadow clones, the latter henged to look like Tazuna and Tsunami, sat next to Naruto on the thick branch of the tree while Tayuya sat focused on what was going on in the house before them, one of her hands forming a seal. The two of them watched the scene play out through the window for several minutes before one of the thugs picked up the small boy. Only then did Tayuya turn to her partner and speak.

"Get ready, as soon as I tell you to, do it."

The red head fell silent again to watch the old man that was their client get back handed and thrown to the floor. It was only when the bandit had raised his blade above Inari that she spoke up again.

"Ready?" A brief pause. "Now!"

One of Naruto's hands, the other already in a one handed seal, tapped the wooden log while a small burst of chakra could be felt coming from Tayuya.

The end result: a disoriented Inari sitting on the tree branch in place of the wood, while a genjutsu covered log was being severed in his place, blood skillfully included in the illusion.

Tsunami's scream of horror pierced the dead silence of night next, causing the bandit holding her to wince and release his hold. Her body unsupported, the woman crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Naruto saw his chance and turned towards his henged clones as Tsunami lapsed into a silence that obviously wouldn't last long.

"Both of you go! Now! While the bandits are distracted!"

The two clones on branch both formed a one handed seal and vanished from sight, leaving not even a hint of smoke behind as the real Tazuna and Tsunami appeared in their places. Naruto clamped his hand down over the distraught woman's mouth before she could make another sound. The action quickly gained her attention, causing her eyes to widen in fear upon taking in the masked and hooded faces of the two Konoha genin.

Tayuya hissed out an explanation in a whisper quickly, before Tsunami could cause any trouble. "We're the nin from Konoha, stop your fucking bitching!" A brief pause was allowed for the tree's newest three occupants to absorb the news. "Your son is right here, we saved him."

Tsunami's head snapped towards a confused Inari, letting out an extremely relieved "Inari," as she hugged him tightly.

Seeing that the woman had been pacified, Naruto and Tayuya turned back to the thugs. One of them had just picked up a direly defeated looking 'Tsunami' and thrown her over his shoulder. The clone that was henged as Tazuna was pretending to be unconscious against the wall where the old man had been back handed earlier.

It wasn't long before the two men left the house with the Tsunami clone that wasn't even bothering to struggle in her 'grief'. As soon as the real Tazuna saw this, he turned towards the two masked nin, a questioning look clearly plastered on his face.

Naruto shook his head, muttering "Inside," as he jumped down from the tree. Tayuya soon followed while Tazuna lowered himself to the ground on his own. After having turned back to help Tsunami and Inari down, the two Konoha nin headed towards the house, three curious civilians following behind them.

Upon entering the living room, Naruto immediately walked over to his Tazuna clone while Tayuya cleared up the remains of 'Inari's' body.

"Get away from those two as quickly as possible without revealing yourself to be fake, I don't care what you do or even if you have to wait to arrive to wherever they're taking you, just don't reveal yourself." The blond spoke quickly and quietly to the Tazuna clone, before dispatching it with a graceful kick to the head.

As he turned back towards the rest of the living room, Naruto silently thanked the old man for being so careless with such an amazing jutsu. The clones would not only transfer almost all non-physical experience they had to the user, but the other clones as well, making them excellent for communication.

The sound of food being placed on the nearby table drew Naruto's attention from his thoughts. He looked over to find that Tsunami had salvaged what was left of the already meager meal she had been preparing for her family. The servings could barely sate Inari's hunger, let alone Tazuna's.

The blond looked towards Tayuya and whispered something behind his mask, Tsunami had set out enough for everyone in the room, including the Konoha nin.

Naruto watched as his red headed partner turned towards the table, then back towards him to whisper her response.

The whiskered blond nodded slightly. "Tsunami-san, was it?" The woman nodded. "My partner and I would like to respectfully decline the offer of food, we have brought our own supplies and do not wish to take more than we have already from your family."

The brown haired woman shook her head. "Nonsense. I insist, and besides, it's not like the mission payment came only from our family."

Naruto whispered something more behind his mask. He and Tayuya had practice in getting people to do what they want, even if it was taking the much needed food for themselves.

The two genin bowed simultaneously and spoke as one. "We thank you for your offer Tsunami-san, but our own provisions are specially made to keep us at our best during missions." The two straightened, seeing the usual slightly dazed looks in the eyes of the three before them.

It was a simple trick, diverting the attention of their 'target' by speaking in perfect synchrony while subtly giving a reason as to why their way was better. It usually worked well on anyone who didn't have a sharp enough eye to catch it.

Tazuna and his family didn't stand a chance at seeing through it.

Tsunami made a vague nod-like gesture. "If that's what you want then, but..."

Naruto held up a hand and starting speaking, attempting to move on to the subject he and Tayuya needed to know about. "It's quite alright, Tsunami-san. Though my partner and I will need all the information you have about Gatou to complete the mission successfully, it would help greatly if you could tell us about him and what his daily activities are over dinner."

Tazuna and Tsunami both nodded, happy to find something they could help with, while Naruto and Tayuya took seats at the table, both pulling out one of their provision bars to eat to avoid awkwardness.

"Well," Tazuna started, "he lives in a super huge mansion in the middle of town. The place has an iron fence around it, at least ten feet tall. I've never seen any cameras or traps or anything on the outside of the building...but then again, I'm not exactly the best at spotting them either." The man paused at that point, taking a bite of his food while going through his thoughts.

Tsunami took over at that point. "I've talked to some of the people in town, mostly women that got forced into..." She trailed off into a grimace before continuing in a more disgusted tone, "_pleasuring_ that despicable man. All of them said the inside of the house was like a maze, hard to navigate, and that he didn't seem to have any guards at all in the place. They weren't completely sure of that though, as they were only taken straight to the top floor where his room is then back to the door, no where else."

"Yeah," Tazuna inserted, "it was the same way for me when I went there, except they took me to the dungeons. Gatou not so subtly threatened me out of building a bridge to the mainland. All of thugs are down there too though, there had to be hundreds wandering around the hallways. I suppose they aren't really allowed on the main floor, at least not any time during the day."

Naruto and Tayuya nodded, the latter speaking for them. "Thank you for the information, it will be extremely helpful when it comes time to dispose of Gatou." With that, both of them stood, having finished their ration bars while Tazuna and Tsunami were talking.

Tayuya continued speaking. "We'd like to retire for the night now, it seems we have a big day ahead of ourselves tomorrow."

"Of course," Tsunami stood, "I'll show you to the guest room we prepared for you..." The woman trailed off, only now realizing that she had no idea what their names were.

Naruto shook his head. "We can't let you know our real names, just call me Fox and my partner..." The blond trailed off in thought for a moment before he snapped his fingers. "Spitfire!"

If looks could kill, Naruto guessed hewould be six feet under and counting, but Tsunami didn't seem to notice. The woman turned towards the stairs with a happy smile, beckoning the two genin to follow her.

They did, but only after Tayuya slapped her partner upside the head.

* * *

Two masked figures sat hidden behind a simple genjutsu on top of the wreckage that was once a bakery. In front of them was a lavish, window covered mansion. The entire five acre property looked out of place next to the ruined town, its nearly perfect features were the exact opposite of the rubble that was once Wave.

The only building that looked like it could even be lived comfortably in was the brothel that the thugs had put together, though the atmosphere of the place certainly made it a less than desirable home.

Naruto sneered in disgust as one of the bandits walked out of the building with a stupid-looking grin plastered on his face. He watched as the thug sauntered back over to the mansion that held the man responsible for the poverty and starvation in Wave.

"It's like those idiots live solely in that damn mansion or that despicable brothel..." He murmured absentmindedly into his communicator.

Tayuya shook her head in frustration. "We're supposed to be finding a way into that stupid fucking mansion blondie, we can fucking eviscerate all those idiots after Gatou is dead."

Naruto sighed, but turned back towards the building he and his partner were supposed to be observing anyway.

Thus far, using the information they gained from Tsunami and Tazuna, as well as listening in on some of the gossip that was passed around the villagers, they had a rough idea of when the best time was to take out their target.

Gatou served his hired help a small set of meals every day, so nearly all the bandits could be found inside the mansion for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also, during the day, Gatou kept his security systems off line due to the fact that there were so many thugs coming and going almost constantly.

That information gave the two genin a decent idea of what time was the best to strike, but a conversation between two bandits they happened to overhear gave them their most valuable fact yet.

Apparently, Gatou deemed himself too important to eat with his lowly hired help, the short man ate in his room on the top floor, instead of on the bottom with the thugs.

Whether or not he had bodyguards in the room was unknown, but it was the best Naruto and Tayuya could get.

"So tonight at sunset then?" His red headed partner's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Yeah."

* * *

Gatou strut, a thug with a rather large sack of his shoulder behind him, through the town he'd milked of their money with a satisfied grin on his face. The town was in shambles thanks to him, nothing but a former shell of what it used to be, and he loved every second of it. The people were broken and completely unmotivated from attempting to stop him now, the bridge they had been trying to build was no longer a problem, and he could have anything he wanted.

A groan came from the sack over the thug's shoulder, causing Gatou's grin to widen.

_Anything _he wanted.

The short man sighed happily as he and his hired help reached the gates of his mansion. He took a moment to admire how the perfect lawn, garden, and trees looked when compared to the rest of Wave; his grin grew impossibly wider.

Chuckling to himself, he continued his walk to the front door.

Gatou stopped once he was close to the doorway though, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the door impatiently. It had taken the last thug, now formerly alive, nearly an entire minute to open the door and hold it open for him, he hoped for this thug's sake that he was smarter than the last.

An entire minute later, consisting of Gatou tapping his foot and shooting looks at his idiot help, the door was opened from the inside, solving the problem.

The short man stepped in with a sneer and quickly started for the nearest staircase to lead him to his room, the thug trailing along behind him.

Multiple stairways and five floors later, the short man and his hired help reached their destination without any disturbances. Gatou merely pointed to his bed and watched as the thug threw the woman he was carrying, still bound and gagged in the sack, on to it.

"Get out of my sight."

Once the thug was out of the room, the business man walked over to his newest toy. He slowly removed the sack, eventually revealing the woman's terrified features to him. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him, before he drawled out a taunt.

"We're gonna have some fun later, don't you worry though, I won't be too rough..." He trailed off into a laugh before leaving her bound and gagged on his bed for later.

The short man instead headed towards a door in his room that might have lead to a closet, Gatou knew better though, for he had made his room specifically for himself. The man's grin started to reappear on his face, greedy and vicious as ever, as he entered his most favorite room in the entire house.

Gatou stepped inside and closed the door behind him, first taking in the massive piles of money that his "business ventures" had managed to get him. He felt his face split fully into the usual grin he always got when he looked at his money, while his eyes glowed of greed.

A low moan served to rip the short man's attention from his money though.

Gatou looked over towards a darkened corner of the room, two of his most favorite playthings, women he deemed too good for his brutes, sat with their wrists bound to the wall above their heads. He had long since managed to rip any shred of hope from the two women, and he got a sick satisfaction from seeing it every time he looked at them.

The man's grin widened. "I've had quite the stress filled day ladies, though I'm sure you'd be more than willing to _help _me out with it."

Gatou reveled in the hatred present in their eyes as he approached.

* * *

Blue eyes snapped open under a black hood, quickly checking the position of the sun from his sitting position in one of the many destroyed buildings of wave.

"_Nearing sunset..." _Naruto sighed and closed his eyes again, mentally preparing himself for the task soon to be at hand.

The blond woke Tayuya from her light slumber while he stretched his tense muscles out, chakra flooding back into them. He groaned contentedly before turning towards the nearby mansion while Tayuya repeated his actions of preparation.

Once the red head was finished, the two of them tested their communicators to find them working as well as they ever had, afterwards turning back towards the mansion. The last of the hired help seemed to be heading in for the day, giving the Konoha nin an obvious sign that the security system was about to go up for the night.

"We've gotta be near the house by the time that system goes up, otherwise things get far more difficult," Naruto whispered to his partner.

He saw Tayuya nod out of the corner of his eye. "These fucktards look stupid enough to mistake their shadow as a threat though..."

The blond grinned. "This should be easy for us then, right Tayuya?"

"You got it blondie, just don't slow me down."

With that, Tayuya jumped from her current perch down into the alleyway below her, Naruto following moments afterward. The pair steadily made their way towards the outer fencing of the mansion through the darkened shadows the wreckage offered within minutes, just in time to see the last of the thugs approaching the gate.

Naruto took lead at this point, heading over to the fence and crouching low to the ground, to stay under the part of the fence that was composed of only bricks, as opposed to the iron bars that sat above them. The blond moved quickly along the outside of the fence, large shadows provided by the sinking sun hiding he and Tayuya very effectively, until he came to an area that was heavily populated by trees on the other side.

The boy lifted a single finger upwards before simply jumping over the ten foot fence, breathing a sigh of relief as Tayuya landed soundlessly next to him moments later. The pair wasted no time in using the numerous trees of the large yard to reach the mansion's perimeter, arriving at the white brick of the building just as the first patrol of the night appeared in the main doorway.

Naruto took a brief moment to look over the house at a closer distance, finding that climbing it would prove to be extremely easy. The entire mansion was riddled with numerous intricate artworks, most of which formed by protruding bricks, that made scaling the walls easy. There were countless windows that could be used as well.

The blond could practically feel Tayuya sharing his smirk, the shop owners in Konoha had better protection than Gatou, at least architecturally. Sometimes simple and plain were best, after all.

Tayuya's voice sounded over his communicator. "Ready? Use the pillars to hide."

Naruto glanced back at the mansion, finding that the main support pillars were indeed defined in an obvious way. Each one extended from the walls of the building by about two to three feet; easy to use for hiding.

"Yeah, let's go." He responded.

With that, the two of them grabbed on to one of the numerous extended bricks, and began to climb in the shadows of the massive building.

* * *

Gatou entered his bedroom hours after he had gone into the side room, a perverted smirk on his face. He loved reminding himself why he kept those whores around.

The man stopped in front of his bed, finding the woman he had left earlier still bound and gagged, eyes looking up at him with hatred and fear present in massive amounts.

He sneered down at her before he turned his back to her, walking over to his desk. The business man pressed a small button on the bottom of it, causing two of his more elite bodyguards to appear before him.

Gatou addressed the two cloaked nin, the demon shits, or whatever they called themselves, it didn't matter either way. "I'm going to retire for the night, one of you take this one," he nodded towards the woman on his bed, "and put her with the rest of whores my muscle uses to please themselves. She pales in comparison to my most favorite slaves, as such, I've lost interest in her." The idle, uncaring way in which he spoke allowed one to see just what kind of man Gatou was.

Nonetheless, one of the breathing apparatus idiots picked her up and started downstairs, while the other remained on one knee in front of Gatou. Said man looked down at breathing apparatus idiot number two.

"Have your brother stand guard outside my door when he gets back, you stay somewhere near the window or something...I don't care, just make sure I don't die."

The ninja nodded, biting back an insult as he did so.

Satisfied, Gatou turned towards his private bathroom to get ready for the night.

The missing nin, now alone in the bedroom, sneered at the door the short man had just disappeared behind, but retreated to a darkened corner to keep watch over his employer. No attempts on the greedy man's life had ever even been tried, yet he had grown paranoid, as many in his position do, from making so many enemies in Wave.

The dying population didn't have enough money to hire assassins though, much less buy the necessities they needed to live.

The masked nin scoffed, who was he to question something as long as he got paid.

Gatou emerged from the bathroom at that point, heading towards his bed. It wasn't long before snoring was heard in the darkened room.

* * *

Naruto and Tayuya sat outside a window of the room Gatou was currently sleeping in. Night had fallen, allowing the two to move without being seen much easier.

Naruto sighed, calming himself, before making a hand seal to create a kage bunshin. The clone inched its head around the edge of the window and lifted its hood slightly, just enough to see in the room with the goggles. Within a second of its formation, the clone dispelled itself.

"One guard in the room, most likely a ninja, currently in a state of light meditation. Far north corner of the room, facing the window."

Tayuya nodded her understanding as she placed a genjutsu over the window to make it look unchanged in any way.

The girl nodded to her partner again once the illusion was in place, who began gathering chakra in his fingertips. Naruto added his wind element to the chakra once it was stable enough, feeling the usual cold feeling settle over the tips of his fingers. He then brought his wind blade up to the window and started cutting a hole big enough to fit someone his size.

The blond finished seconds later, using the traction of his gloves to pull the severed portion of the window out. Once he had finished disposing of the glass, he turned towards Tayuya.

"I'll go in first, if anything happens..."

The red head nodded.

Naruto grinned under his mask, checking to make sure his chakra was hidden, before stepping lightly in front of his self made entrance. He dove head first into the room without further warning, somersaulting nearly soundlessly to his feet while his eyes found the lone guard in the room.

The blond's grin widened when he realized the ninja hadn't noticed his presence yet, still sitting in a meditation posture.

He slowly started advancing on the nin, taking great care to make his movements soundless with practiced ease. Before Naruto could get even half way to the guard though, a light breeze blew in through the opening in the window, a breeze that was strong enough to alert the nin in the corner.

Naruto was on the missing nin in mere moments, swinging a wind enhanced kunai down for the kill, but the man managed to hastily block it with one of his own kunai. The Konoha nin grimaced at the clang the contact caused, but brought his other hand in for another attempt at a killing blow.

This time the man, unbalanced and surprised, could only stumble backward in an attempt to avoid the glowing blade. He was unsuccessful though, as the kunai sliced through the bottom of his mask and into his neck.

Naruto didn't have any time to think before the door was opened and an identical looking ninja entered the room. The missing nin immediately charged him with a speed that caught Naruto slightly off guard.

The blond managed to push more chakra into his wind enhanced kunai before his newest opponent reached him though, meeting the man's strike with one of his own. The wind kunai cut straight through the normal one, allowing Naruto to score a glancing blow on the man's arm; it was nothing deep, but it would get to the man if given enough time.

Naruto's opponent jumped backwards slightly, unaware of another figure darting into the room from the window, and pulled out a new kunai. He didn't like the look of those glowing kunai, anything that could cut through a normal kunai was never good, after all. He'd have to avoid those at all cost.

The missing nin's eyes widened as his senses starting screaming danger. He twisted around to find a copy of his first opponent behind him, only moments away from plunging a kunai into his spine.

He threw himself to the side to avoid the strike, rolling to his feet to regain lost balance. He had no time to think though, as the wind blade wielding nin charged him.

The man did all he could to dodge the fatal blades, wary of attempting to block or parry them again. He was able to keep the shorter, decidedly male, nin at bay with only a small amount of difficulty, but the tide of the battle was quickly changed as the female partner joined in.

The missing nin quickly found himself overwhelmed, wincing as he took shallow wounds to his chest and arms. He jumped backwards to avoid an attempt to sweep his legs out from under him, only to block a particularly vicious vertical strike from the female partner.

The man stumbled backwards, trying in vain to regain his composure. The male partner wouldn't allow it though, as he pressed the advantage, stabbing forwards with both of his enhanced kunai.

The hired nin dodged by leaning backwards into a hand stand, trying to kick the male nin in the chin as he did so. He might have succeeded, had the female not swept his hands out from under him, causing him to crumble to the ground in a pile of limbs.

Before he could even begin to regain his bearings, Naruto had slashed a wind blade through his neck, instantly ending his life.

The blond heard Tayuya breath a small sigh of relief before both of them turned towards the bed in the room.

Amazingly, Gatou had slept through the entire minute long fight.

Naruto chuckled to himself under his breath as he approached, raising a normal kunai above his head to complete the mission.

As the blond reached the bed though, a sudden chakra presence that was far too close for comfort startled him enough to delay Gatou's death for a second. That second was enough for whoever the chakra belonged to though, for when Naruto had come to his senses and struck down at Gatou with his kunai, he only received a clang for his efforts.

Somehow, the blond knew he wouldn't like fighting the owner of that senbon.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there you have it, chapter 6 is officially complete. As usual, any reviews informing me of mistakes made in the chapter are greatly appreciated...I like to go back and correct them to improve the experience for future readers.

Next chapter, everyone's favorite white haired pervert makes his first appearance. Something to look forward to eh?

Well, I think that's all I've got to say for now. Till next time. (Another week or two)


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **All of it's at the bottom this time.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 7**

_**Decided to include the ending of the last chapter to refresh your memories a bit, figured it'd help with how late this chapter is:**_

_The blond heard Tayuya breath a small sigh of relief before both of them turned towards the bed in the room._

_Amazingly, Gatou had slept through the entire minute long fight._

_Naruto chuckled to himself under his breath as he approached, raising a normal kunai above his head to complete the mission._

_As the blond reached the bed though, a sudden chakra presence that was far too close for comfort startled him enough to delay Gatou's death for a second. That second was enough for whoever the chakra belonged to though, for when Naruto had come to his senses and struck down at Gatou with his kunai, he only received a clang for his efforts._

_Somehow, the blond knew he wouldn't like fighting the owner of that senbon._

It took Naruto's mind a second to realize what had happened before he jumped backwards, away from the new masked nin, to land neatly beside Tayuya. Their newest opponent held himself with a grace that the previous two clearly lacked; there would be no catching this ninja off balance. His clothes bore no visual sign of armor at all and judging by the way his fingers held the senbon, he specialized in ranged abilities.

The blond scowled beneath his mask, a mixture of annoyance due to finding a ninja with abilities that were naturally at an advantage against his own and wondering how these bastards kept popping up at the most inopportune moments.

The masked nin's voice broke Naruto from his thoughts in a quiet but strong tone. "My name is Haku. I cannot allow you to kill this man, if you continue to try, your lives will be forfeit."

Gatou, who had woken at the sound of clashing metal, realized just what was going on with his hired ninja's last sentence. Fear laced his voice as he looked around blindly in the dimly lit room.

"What?! I paid you idiots extremely well to protect me, and you go an allow assassins to enter my room!" The man was becoming somewhat frantic in his search at this point, his eyes unable to see Naruto and Tayuya's dark forms in the nearly pitch black room.

"Gatou-san, I must ask that you remain calm. Please head to a safer area so you will not be hurt." Haku's monotone was the exact opposite to the greedy businessman's panicked stuttering.

"I don't even know where they are you fool! I could walk straight into them!"

Tayuya silently grit her teeth in annoyance. If this dragged on any longer she and Naruto would risk being discovered by those idiot thugs Gatou kept around.

"Blondie, we gotta hurry this along."

Naruto murmured his agreement as he formed two, one handed seals with both his hands. The blond then placed them together in what appeared to be a normal two handed seal, making sure to keep a fraction of an inch of space between them.

He grinned and let out a quiet but clearly audible, "_Bunshin no jutsu!_". A multitude of smokeless popping sounds were heard in the air, filling the spacious room with nearly twenty Naruto clones.

The blond's grin widened as he saw Haku's head snap up in what seemed to be annoyance, the masked nin must have been stalling for some reason.

Further thought was pushed from the Kyuubi vessel's head though, as his clones sprinted as one towards the lone ninja and cowering businessman. The original Naruto joined in while Tayuya took the moment of distraction to begin a fairly long series of hand seals.

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage leaned over various reports that covered the top of his desk with a calculating look present in his eyes. Every single one of the contacts he had throughout the elemental countries, and even some of Jiraiya's, were reporting in that the numbers of missing nin in general had recently experienced a rapid decrease in numbers. That alone wasn't too troubling to the elderly man. It was a report from Iwa that worked in conjunction with missing nin problem that had him slightly panicked.

According to Sarutobi's contact, the amount of registered rock nin had been growing steadily over the past few years, something to be expected of a recovering country. That growth had recently increased to an extremely high rate though, so large that it was unnatural, suspicious.

The Sandaime sighed. If what he thought was happening, Konoha should be expecting a bloody surprise soon.

The man glanced down at the papers filling his desk again, choosing to pick up the report on the missing nin, as well as the Iwa contact's report, and take them to his advisors. He didn't exactly like his old teammates, but those two were some of the best minds Konoha had to offer.

* * *

Tayuya smirked upon finishing her last hand seal, feeling the genjutsu settle in over Haku just as the first clones reached the boy.

She and Naruto had both developed these jutsu separately, but found that when used together, they made for a deadly combination. Her partner's part was simple enough, create tangible and intangible clones to attack as one, causing the initial confusion as to what is real and what isn't.

Her own part was much more complicated though, as it involved several different layers of highly advanced genjutsu. Genjutsu that must be weaved together in near perfection for their effects to work.

The first would throw the target's perception of incoming attacks off by about an inch, not nearly enough to be obvious, but just enough to effect them. The second layer was a simple cloaking illusion on herself and Naruto, which could be very effective when used together with the first effect. The final genjutsu was by far the impressive in Tayuya's arsenal though. It had no effect on the target when used by itself, but if it was used with another genjutsu, it would make any attempt at dispelling that genjutsu appear to be worthless.

To put it simply, Haku would have to find the genjutsu that made it look like another genjutsu was active to truly disable the perception effect. No matter how many times he interrupted the flow of chakra to his brain, the perception loss would still be there, as Tayuya's best genjutsu was cast using the chakra present in the air itself. A highly expensive jutsu, no doubt, but very useful.

The red head took a deep breath, finding herself panting slightly at the loss of chakra, before regaining her composure and charging forward behind Naruto and his clones.

* * *

Haku settled into a defensive stance as the bunshin approached, listening carefully for any sound that might give away the original. He frowned when he realized he couldn't hear a thing besides Gatou's whimpering behind him...the boy appeared to be a true stealth specialist, after all.

The missing nin sighed as the first clone reached him, ducking under the somewhat wild horizontal slash while lashing out at several clones with his senbon.

Only one made any effort to dodge the weapons.

Haku charged toward what he thought to be the original Naruto, paying no mind to the illusions as he did so. So it came as quite a surprise when a thrown kunai he had disregarded sliced open a decent sized wound on his shoulder.

"_That was heading for my heart..." _His confusion over whether or not the clones were illusions and why his sight was off caused him to stumble in his charge. He fell forward, but managed to save himself by tucking into a somersault and coming to stand on his feet.

He was immediately forced to parry another kunai, but when the weapon seemed to pass right through his own senbon, he turned away from what he knew to be an illusion.

It came as another shock when he felt the kunai pierce his side.

"_But...How?" _His confused and slightly panicked brain searched for an answer to his current predicament.

Haku shook himself from his thoughts when he saw a few shuriken flying towards him, reflexively bringing up his senbon to block them. The projectiles passed through his weapon again though, heading uninterrupted towards his heart.

The missing nin's eyes widened when he realized he didn't have any time to dodge, so it was all he could do to watch the weapons as they...passed right through him?

He threw himself away from the clones in an effort to regain his composure, utterly clueless as to what was happening. The boy's mind quickly used the few seconds it had before the enemy reached him.

Some weapons were real but passed through his own anyway. Some were fake, and passed through both him and his weapon. Some seemed to be real as well, why else would one of the figures dodge his senbon.

Haku's brain worked furiously in an attempt to analyze the situation, eventually coming up with one solution not a second too late.

"_Genjutsu!"_

The boy quickly interrupted the chakra flow to his brain, smiling slightly at the clear feeling that came over him as he did so.

He settled into a stance as the masked figures reached him, preparing to block another kunai strike, when he felt a sharp pain come from near his shoulder blades.

Haku spun around and jumped to the side, only seeing distorted air as the reason for his latest injury.

"_I dispelled any genjutsu that would have been on me!"_

The missing nin stumbled slightly when he landed on his feet, no doubt due to his loss of blood and all the moving around he was doing.

He grit his teeth, realizing he'd have to take it to the next level, even if it was in extremely close quarters.

Haku allowed his fingers to form the familiar signs of his strongest bloodline jutsu.

* * *

Tayuya watched from her cloaked position as Naruto, also cloaked, landed a deep blow to Haku's back. She didn't know whether to grin or scowl, as now their opponent would be looking for any sign of distorted air...so much for taking Gatou out while Haku was distracted.

The red head was startled out of her annoyed thoughts by a chain of unusual hand seals that the missing nin was starting to run through. Her dark brown eyes narrowed, any hand seals that were unrecognizable had to be interrupted. Fast.

She took off across the room, throwing several shuriken as she did so, in an attempt to stop Haku from completing his jutsu.

The missing nin though, much to Tayuya's annoyance, merely took out a senbon with one hand while the other continued making seals, though it was at a much slower rate.

The shuriken clattered noisily to the ground as the clones that were charging came within five feet of the masked nin. Haku brought both his hands together in a frantic attempt to finish his jutsu, only just managing to do so mere moments before a kunai would have impaled what he thought to be his kidney.

He dove towards one of the newly formed ice mirrors, gasping slightly at how much extra chakra his rush to finish had cost him, entering it like one would water. Once inside his jutsu, Haku allowed himself a short time to catch his breath, the multiple wounds he had sustained, as well as the somewhat large loss of chakra had him at an even greater disadvantage that he had been at before. There was also the fact that he was losing blood, fast.

The boy narrowed his eyes behind his mask, this fight would have to be quick.

Unknown to Haku, a cloaked Naruto was crouching outside the circle that the square mirrors formed, the ceiling prohibiting it from creating a dome.

The blond watched as one of his shadow clones attempted to slice a mirror with a kunai, only to find it had no effect; fire jutsu produced similar results.

The blond furrowed his brow, content to sit back and think out the problem before doing anything.

"How the hell are we supposed to break those?"

Tayuya's whispered voice assured Naruto that she was outside the circle as well, it was far too calm of a tone for her to be in danger.

"Dunno. Kunai and fire do nothing against them...I suppose we could always just wait till he tires out..."

Naruto heard Tayuya give what seemed to be a sound of agreement, before he turned back to Haku and his mirrors.

The majority of the shadow clones had been obliterated at this point, and the missing nin seemed to have realized that there were regular bunshin in the mix as well.

The blond allowed himself a smirk as he watched Haku's movements slow, no doubt due to blood loss. Three deep wounds from kunai would do that to nearly anyone.

It wouldn't be long now...

* * *

Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist idly sat atop the roof of the newly built brothel in Wave Country. The man had grown bored of the entertainment downstairs, and decided to come up to the roof to attempt to get some sleep.

Hours of...vigorous activity...would make anyone tired, after all.

Zabuza allowed himself a smirk at that, letting out a pleased sigh as he felt himself drifting off.

It seemed fate decided to deny him the rest he so wanted though, as the communicator under his mask came to life in the form of Haku's voice.

"Zabuza-sama _cough _I need your _gasp _help. Gatou's room! _Cough cough."_

The swordsman lifted a nonexistent eyebrow. An opponent that could cause Haku that much trouble would surely be quite the interesting distraction...

He sighed. Either way, he'd have to dig Haku out of whatever hole he dug himself into in the end, so saving his employer by fighting off the threat could be considered an added bonus.

Zabuza let out a short burst of laughter at his own humor, before lazily making his way towards the mansion.

* * *

Naruto watched in satisfaction as the ice mirrors Haku had made broke into pieces some ten minutes after they had been formed, the ninja himself falling to the floor amongst the shards of ice.

The blond's mood improved even farther when he saw that his opponent could barely move, let alone breath.

He quickly whispered a sentence to Tayuya.

"Haku's as good as dead, let's just get rid of Gatou and get outta here."

Before Naruto could take one step towards Gatou, who had been cowering and whimpering in a far corner of the room for the entire fight, his senses started screaming danger.

The blond instinctively jumped back, managing to avoid getting cleaved across the middle by doing so.

Before he could gain his bearings, the cleaver-like sword was coming at him again, this time from the other direction with a frightening speed.

Naruto ducked and practically threw himself backwards to avoid what would have obviously been death.

This time the boy didn't get a chance to even regain his footing though, as the mystery opponent jabbed forward with a speed far greater than anything the blond had seen.

He immediately dug his fingers into the pouch on his thigh in search of a kunai, realizing that he would be far too late to save himself while he did so.

A resounding, unexpected _clang _was heard throughout the darkened room, causing Naruto to lift his head.

The boy had to resist the urge to smirk. Tayuya was in front of him, all of her weight and the strength of both her arms placed behind her kunai, holding the massive cleaver at bay. She had managed to redirect the blade just enough to save her partner's life, and was now keeping it from swiping towards them horizontally.

The man wielding the blade snorted and abruptly pulled it away.

Tayuya stumbled slightly, while Naruto picked himself up off the ground. Moments later, the two of them were both in a defensive stance facing the bored looking masked man.

The man chuckled. "Never thought two brats would survive this long against me...most grown men only make it two seconds, three if they're lucky."

The two Konoha nin kept silent, causing the man to continue.

"My name's Zabuza, kids. I gotta admit, I'm impressed you two are still whole; Haku usually isn't beaten so easily..." The masked man turned to look at the younger boy. "Haku! You let these brats beat you, I'm disappointed..."

The boy coughed harshly, his mask lay forgotten several feet from his body, allowing the room to see the blood that came with his coughing fit.

"I'm...sorry, Zabuza-sama..._cough_...I failed you..."

Zabuza raised what would have been an eyebrow and looked down at the boy with dispassionate eyes.

"Yeah, you did." He stated.

A dull thud sounded throughout the room as Naruto's and Tayuya's eyes narrowed in disbelief.

Zabuza had just cut off Haku's head, in cold blood, because he hadn't been able to beat them. Granted, death was in the very near future for the boy anyway, but the idea of it...

The cleaver wielding nin snorted, then smirked, sensing and correctly placing his opponents' disbelief. "Not so accustomed to the ninja world yet, are you kiddies? He was a pawn when I first meant him and a pawn when he died, and what good does a useless pawn do?"

At this point, Naruto came to his senses and whispered under his breath to Tayuya.

"How are your chakra reserves holding up?"

"Horribly. Not everyone has as much as you do blondie. That last combination wiped out at least half of mine."

Naruto cursed under his breath while he refocused his attention fully on Zabuza, this fight would be far from easy. He whispered a brief sentence to Tayuya before using the same clone trick on Zabuza that he had used on Haku.

In an instant there were well over twenty cloaked figures charging the missing nin, who had cocked his head to the side in amusement.

As the first few clones got into Zabuza's range, the man merely chuckled and lashed out with his massive cleaver, destroying any solid clone within nearly ten feet of him. He rightly ignored the illusion clones, instead moving forward while efficiently and effortlessly carving a path toward the original Naruto.

Said blond cursed under his breath again and pulled out another kunai, one in each hand, as his opponent drew closer.

As soon as he was in range, Zabuza swung out with a vicious horizontal slash, the force of which sent Naruto sprawling across the ground for several feet after he had blocked it.

Zabuza grinned under his mask and turned to bludgeon the other runt of a ninja with the broad side of his blade. This one was smart enough to roll away and charge him upon regaining her footing, far before he could bring his cleaver-like blade back in from his strike. The missing nin merely caught the girl's forearm when she tried to stab him with a kunai and delivered a hard kick to her midsection, forcing the air from her lungs and sending her flying across the room.

By this time, Naruto had recovered and started a chain of hand seals. Zabuza turned just in time to see the boy send a compact blast of wind at him, which he simply stopped with the broad side of his blade, and then charge him head on.

The missing nin didn't wait for the cloaked nin to reach him though, instead using one of his favorite jutsu.

Dense mist covered the confined area of the room in moments, effectively limiting both Naruto's and Tayuya's sight to no further than a couple feet in any direction.

"Fuck!" Tayuya's voice caused her wary blond partner to jump slightly. "We gotta get to each other. Fast."

"Yeah," Naruto responded, biting back a sarcastic remark, "I'm going to stop masking my chakra, head towards me and stop hiding yours too."

The pair were still hurriedly trying to find each other when Zabuza's voice reached their ears in the form of a cold whisper, seemingly projected from every direction.

"So many places I can choose from...such a difficult decision..."

Harsh laughter was heard, the hair on the back of Naruto's neck stood on end; he unconsciously moved towards Tayuya a little quicker.

"I don't always do things cleanly though, I'm not opposed to occasionally gouging a victim's eyes out...slow and painful is quite entertaining..."

The blond had reached the general area where he felt his partner's chakra coming from, but he was unable to pin point her location due to the mist distorting any chakra presence inside of it.

"Tayuya!" He fought to keep the panicked aspect out of his whisper, but some made it through. In all his time in Konoha, through all the beatings, he and Tayuya had both felt their fair share of killing intent. Never before had they been completely blinded though, helpless at the hands of a murderer, it scared Naruto more than he wanted to admit.

"Blondie?"

He could tell his red headed partner was experiencing many of the feelings he was, they had always been there for each other, no matter what. This mist was taking that away.

He cautiously groped around for her, whispering out her name as soon as he made contact with something solid.

Naruto didn't get a verbal reply, instead Tayuya immediately stood back to back with him; the distance between the two of them was far less than it would usually be, but neither cared at this point, it gave them an odd feeling of comfort to be closer to one another.

Both of them took in a deep breath, calming somewhat.

Their tranquility was shattered by Zabuza's voice, the grin that was obviously on his face could be heard through his words.

"How sweet," the missing nin mocked. "The munchkins want to die together, like some tragic fucking romance..." He trailed off into cackle that reverberated throughout the room, forcing shivers through Naruto and Tayuya.

Zabuza was heard sighing.

Silence fell over the room, the only sound present being the whimpers of Gatou.

The Konoha nin strained their ears in an attempt to find their opponent, but they found nothing that couldn't be masked by the coward's crying.

* * *

Minutes had passed in complete and utter silence, even Gatou seemed to catch on after a while, drenching the room in an eerie quiet.

Tayuya pressed back further into Naruto, sufficiently scared for the first time since she had last seen her father. Her eyes warily darted back and forth in the mist, never seeing farther than a few feet.

Her nerves were wired, no doubt due to the silence and the situation in general.

"Die!"

The yell, followed by a series of noises that she couldn't define, caused Tayuya to physically jump and frantically look for where it might have come from, only to find absolutely nothing...the only thing that had changed was the amount of pressure on her back.

She turned her head just enough to see her partner, only to find him missing. Tayuya quickly turned around fully, eyes widening at the sight in front of her.

Zabuza had definitely struck, there was no doubt about that now, because the massive cleaver-like blade was currently embedded deep into Naruto's right shoulder.

Her fear increased ten fold, not for her own life, rather, for Naruto's.

"No..." She whispered under her breath while Zabuza cracked what seemed to be a grin under his mask.

"What was that?" He sneered.

"No," Tayuya said, louder this time, her eyes still locked on her blond partner's form.

The cleaver wielding nin chuckled to himself. "No what?"

Tayuya grit her teeth together, abandoning words. She jumped over Naruto's kneeling form, anger coursing through her veins. She managed to surprise Zabuza, immediately charging forward and jamming her kunai as far into the ninja's gut as she could.

The red head didn't get far before the missing nin came to his senses though.

Zabuza grabbed her forearm again and lifted her up to throw her.

Tayuya was able to catch him off guard again though, when she used her sudden change in momentum to swing her body up and land a solid kick to the side of his face.

The nin dropped Tayuya and stumbled back slightly, causing his massive blade to be ripped from Naruto's shoulder.

The sickening squelch that was heard angered Tayuya further, her exhausted body pumped to the breaking point with adrenaline.

She sprinted forward in an attempt to press her advantage, but his time, Zabuza was ready.

The missing nin regained his balance and footing in time swing his leg out in a vicious side kick. Tayuya, focused on the sole objective of killing, didn't bother to dodge.

The red head's decision cost her. She was sent tumbling across the length of the room, eventually crumpling against the far wall. The adrenaline that was fueling her fled from her body, leaving her panting hard while the back of her head, which had collided harshly with the wall, pulsed angrily in pain. She slouched forward a slight amount.

Zabuza recollected himself, sneering down at Tayuya as he walked past the disfigured form of Naruto. The man didn't say a word, instead lifting his blade in what would obviously be a fatal blow.

The targeted red head, however, paid him no heed. Her attention was instead focused on the dying blond across the room.

He was still breathing, but the movement of his body was so faint that it could easily be mistaken as a breeze.

Tayuya clenched her jaw, fighting a losing battle in attempting to make her weary body move. She and Naruto made quite the pair when they fought together. The red head was only just realizing how much they suffered when they were away from each other, not just physically either.

She had come to rely on the blond's presence over the years, drawing strength from him just as he did her. It made sense though, the two of them were outcasts in every form, and really only had each other as comfort.

Tayuya lowered her head as she saw Naruto attempt to turn towards her, the glimpse of his extremely distorted, clouded blue eyes was nearly enough to make her break down in tears right there.

Zabuza's footsteps were closing in now, within feet of where she was slumped wearily against the wall.

The red head chanced one last look at her partner, her eyes immediately finding his. She could see his blue irises a little more clearly now, a sign that his mind was overcoming the fog of pain. He understood what was going on, which obviously accounted for the anger and despair that quickly took over his stare.

She watched as he struggled in vain to stand, completely ignoring Zabuza in favor of watching her partner. The missing nin was now standing in front of her, currently in the process of lifting his sword for the killing blow.

Naruto's struggles increased, he was wheezing and panting harshly, but had managed to make it onto his hands and knees.

Zabuza brought his blade down.

The red head turned her head away from Naruto, angry tears streaming silently from her eyes, as he gasped in pain, obviously due to the overwhelming strain he was putting on his mutilated shoulder.

Tayuya grit her teeth as she kept her head down and waited for the sword, but in doing so, she managed to miss an old genjutsu in the room break from a violent burst of chakra.

* * *

**A/N: **Four weeks...I've fallen behind eh? I don't have any excuses as to why this chapter is late though, I kept putting off until later, and it never got done. My apologies.

I'd like to know about any grammar errors or mistakes in general that you guys might find, anything to make the story better.

I can't really think of anything else I want/need to say at this point, though I'm going to try and get the next chapter up in a week, rather than two.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the extremely late seventh chapter of Past Demons: Similarities in Opposites...till next time.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

_Previously_

Zabuza brought his blade down.

The red head turned her head away from Naruto, angry tears streaming silently from her eyes, as he gasped in pain, obviously due to the overwhelming strain he was putting on his mutilated shoulder.

Tayuya grit her teeth as she kept her head down and waited for the sword, but in doing so, she managed to miss an old genjutsu in the room break from a violent burst of chakra.

* * *

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 8**

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

A dark hallway lit only by the sickly green hue of the pipes that made its walls was completely barren of life. Nothing moved or stirred but for the steady leak of one of the pipes.

The ground was coated in a layer of murky water and through the gaps in the pipes lay solid darkness. It was as if nothing existed beyond the boundary of the make shift wall.

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

The hallway was dimly lit and eventually plunged into complete and utter darkness after about fifty feet. There was only one opening in the hallway, an opening that lead into more of the darkened sewer-like environment.

It was in this hallway that the pipes started to crack and break, though no water circulated through them. The walls were as dry and barren as a desert, but for the lone pipe directly overhead of the path. The pipe with the leak.

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

The water flow was steadily increasing from the crack, seemingly eating away at the metal itself.

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

The pipe could be followed around a corner, disappearing into a massive room, heavily tainted with a blood red hue that visibly hung in the air.

_Drip, drip, drip..._

Gates lay in the back of the room, seemingly held together by a simple piece of paper.

_Drip drip drip_

Blood red eyes filled with ill intent snapped open behind the bars of the cage.

The water went silent.

A set of massive fangs revealed themselves when their owner grinned, each well over an adult male's height.

"**The flesh bag has finally sealed his fate..."**

The eyes closed, vanishing into the darkness; seconds later, the leaking pipe broke open, spilling forth red tinted water.

* * *

Pain.

Naruto's world exploded in mind numbing agony.

He could feel the tainted chakra crawl across his skin, burning and searing it inch by inch, breaking every single strand of muscle fiber in his body and reforming them immediately. A scream he'd been fighting to hold in was ruthlessly ripped from his throat as the redness engulfed his injured shoulder, pulling and tugging at the severed skin and muscle fibers before harshly repairing them as well. Steam erupted from the rapidly closing wound, a testament to the sheer heat radiating from the red chakra.

There was no getting accustomed to pain like this, no telling how much more he could take before he was driven to insanity.

The blond grit his teeth in blind anger as the last of his skin was covered in the searing chakra. He focused his crimson irises on Zabuza, who had temporarily frozen at the grotesque sight before him.

Naruto saw red.

He bared his fanged teeth and shot off towards the missing nin.

Before Zabuza could process his newly found speed, the blond was on top of him, lashing out wildly with a kunai in each hand.

Naruto grinned in satisfaction upon feeling his kunai cut into his opponent's flesh.

Twice on the arm, another across the stomach, one diagonal cut down the face.

His grin widened into face splitting proportions. The euphoria he felt at seeing Zabuza's blood spray out of wounds he'd caused only fueled his insatiable blood lust.

Three more to the thigh and another across the chest.

Zabuza threw himself backwards to get away from the animal his opponent had become, taking the few precious moments he had to regain his composure. Seconds later, with his massive blade held out in front of him, he faced a charging Naruto.

Before the blond could get within range of him, Zabuza swung out horizontally with his cleaver-like sword.

The boy ducked under it and kept going without pause.

The demon of the mist quickly swung the flat side of his sword, the closer side, at the blond again in an attempt to buy himself some time.

Naruto dropped both his kunai and used one of his free hands to catch the blade, stopping it immediately. He pulled back his other hand and formed it into a fist, pushing no small amount of chakra into it.

The blond paused to grin wickedly at Zabuza, who had just found out that trying to tear the blade from the boy's grasp wouldn't work, before landing a vicious punch onto the broad side of the sword.

He grit his teeth as multiple bones shattered and instantly repaired themselves in his chakra covered fist, but grinned with satisfaction when he saw the remains of what used to be Zabuza's sword.

The massive cleaver was cracked across the middle, broken into two pieces.

The missing nin grimaced under his mask, landing kick on Naruto's gut to knock him away for a few seconds.

Zabuza quickly used the break in combat to pick up both of the kunai his younger opponent had dropped and promptly turn around to charge head on at Tayuya.

As soon as said girl's partner realized what was going on, his anger increased ten fold.

More red chakra oozed from his body, nearly blinding Naruto with pain.

The boy shook off the feeling in a few moments though, and turned towards Tayuya, only to see that he would never be able to make it in time to cut Zabuza off.

His eyes narrowed dangerously, and acting upon what he thought was instinct, the blond raised his strong arm and lashed it out towards the demon of the mist. It looked as though he was merely punched air, but the massive red claw that shot out towards Zabuza, seemingly made only from the putrid chakra, showed that the boy's efforts were worth while.

The blood red claw traveled forward at amazing speeds, nearly causing the air to howl ominously.

It caught Zabuza in moments, grabbing his entire midsection in a bone crushing grip. Naruto abruptly pulled back his fist, causing Zabuza's body to be tossed through the air at him.

The A-ranked missing nin righted himself in mid air as he flew at the blond, panting slightly from exertion, and threw one of the kunai he held in his hands.

Naruto saw a flash of metal and whipped his left hand out to grab it, deftly plucking it out of the air while ignoring the pain that came as the blade ripped his skin open. He dropped the weapon, his hand emitting steam as it sealed the cut, and snarled viciously at the incoming nin.

As soon as Zabuza went after Tayuya while she was down, he sealed his fate.

Weapons wouldn't bring Naruto enough satisfaction, he would do this with his bare hands.

Zabuza landed in front of him, already spinning his body around to land a vicious kick to the blond's side.

Said blond ignored it completely, absorbing the blow even as he cocked his fist back, his eyes gleaming in anger. His hand shot out to grab Zabuza's retreating leg, keeping the man from going anywhere, as he unleashed a massive right hook on the man's chin.

The demon of the mist was forced off his feet as he stumbled backwards. Before he could overcome the daze he had fallen into, Naruto landed another punch, this time to his gut.

Zabuza felt the air being forced out of his lungs and hunched over reflexively.

His blond opponent seized the opportunity ruthlessly, flipping backwards and allowed his foot to connected solidly with Zabuza's jaw.

The missing nin stumbling backwards again, arms temporarily thrust out to keep his balance.

Naruto leapt forward while charging his cocked fist with a combination of red chakra and wind chakra. Once he was within range of the missing nin, he let out a primal roar and viciously punched the man in the gut.

The impact on Zabuza broke multiple ribs and sent him flying across the room, leaving him slumped against the wall in a daze.

Naruto never paused his attack as he shot towards the shattered remains of the man's sword, picking up the bottom half of the blade and hurling it ruthlessly towards the downed nin.

The blade sliced open a deep wound on Zabuza's shoulder and stuck there, embedded in his skin.

The blond was not finished.

He grabbed the remaining half of the blade, ignoring the pain that came when he gripped the edge of the side of the sword, and threw it at Zabuza as well.

It hit the nin head on, the tip of the sword impaling him through his gut, causing a strained scream to be ripped from his throat.

Naruto snarled and rushed toward the man, slamming his fist into the end of the blade impaled in Zabuza's stomach.

The sword was pushed physically through the demon of the mist's body, instantly ripping a silent scream from him.

He died in seconds, impaled on his own blade.

Naruto stood in front of the corpse for several seconds, merely panting in anger and glaring at the man, before he felt the red chakra begin to recede.

The part of his skin that was exposed to the open air again seared with white hot pain. It was as if his skin was being peeled off, layer by layer.

The blond gasped out a yell of pain before falling to his knees. He brought his hands up to claw at his eyes in blind desperation.

The agony continued for several minutes, eventually leaving Naruto panted on the ground, curled tightly into a ball.

Tayuya, who had gotten to her feet amidst the blond's agony induced fit, went over to her partner's side and knelt down next to him.

She rolled him onto his back and meant his eyes as she brushed some of his bangs off his forehead.

Naruto gave the red head a small smile, twitching in pain from the aftermath of using the red chakra, before speaking quietly.

"Looks like our first assassination mission is a success huh?"

Tayuya allowed herself a small smile, glancing over at the unconscious form of their target. The killing intent must have been too much for the man.

She looked back down at her partner, speaking in a whisper. "Yeah blondie, nice job."

Naruto gave her a faint grin and nodded his head towards Gatou. "You mind doing the dirty work...my body seems to be unresponsive at the moment, not sure why."

The red head snorted and muttered, "Lazy ass," under her breath, but went to do as her partner asked nonetheless.

Said partner laughed lightly, and called out to her as she walked towards Gatou. "Love you too."

Tayuya didn't exactly know why his sarcastic statement had brought a slight pink tinge to her mask-covered cheeks, but found that she didn't really care either.

She just knew she liked the feeling.

* * *

"That's absurd! That's the last thing we'd want to do in a situation like this!"

"Absurd? Sitting back and letting them continue is absurd! We need to take action against this, we must prevent it from growing further!"

"Provoking them could lead to something none of us want! It's not worth it!"

"Foolishness!" Koharu turned towards Sarutobi.

"Hokage-sama, please tell me you understand that we must put an end to this immediately, _before _it gets out of hand!"

Homura snorted in disbelief. "The Hokage is a reasonable person, he would never send ninja to their deaths without a good reason!"

Sarutobi sighed and stood up as his former female teammate opened her mouth to retort.

"Enough!"

The Sandaime waited until he had their full attention, then spoke in the strong, quiet voice he used when in council meetings.

"I do not believe we should rush into this situation without further knowledge, _but _allowing it to continue whilst we sit back and twiddle our thumbs isn't a good idea either."

He paused to take in a breath. "I think we should gather more information regarding this problem before we decide to do anything. It's not an all out attack, nor is it ignoring the problem completely, but I believe it's the best thing to do at this time."

Koharu swallowed with a pensive look on her face. "How would you go about gathering more information on a problem such as this? Surely your contacts would know enough about Iwa's ninja to provide adequate information to justify immediate action."

"His contact can't do everything you ignorant old woman!" Homura snorted. "If we even want to think about doing anything about Iwa's rapidly increasing ninja population, we'd need enough information to make sure we know they're planning something, not just an educated guess."

Sarutobi slammed his fist down on his desk before their bickering could start anew.

"Enough of this childishness! I've already stated that we will not sit back and ignore this problem, nor will we act rashly! I ask you to please understand that bit of information, _before _we go on."

Both Homura and Koharu nodded grudgingly.

The Sandaime sighed. "Now, my contact works in a popular bakery in Iwa. He hears what people mention a little too loudly, but that's as far as his knowledge goes...Someone that can infiltrate the ranks of the Iwa nin would get the job done perfectly."

The two former teammates of the Hokage glanced at each other, Homura deciding to speak their collective thoughts.

"Which one do you have in mind, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi shook his head. "Not one, but two..."

* * *

Naruto groaned and sat up in the cot he had been sleeping in, taking in his surroundings with a sleepy gaze.

Tayuya was sleeping a couple feet from him in a cot of her own, her mask and cloak, like his own, were still in place. The two of them appeared to be back at Tazuna's house.

"_Must've blacked out..." _The blond idly realized.

Sighing, he slid out of the comfortable linens and got to his feet. Naruto looked over towards the window as he stretched, wincing as several bones snapped back into place with a small _pop_.

It appeared to be late morning, they must've been asleep for nearly twelve hours.

The blond nodded to himself and turned to get Tayuya up.

The red headed girl woke up easily enough, acknowledging Naruto as he suggested they leave within the hour.

Any further activity was interrupted with Tsunami's appearance in the doorway.

"Oh, you two are finally up and moving about! You've been sleeping for just over an entire day, I thought you'd never wake up!" She laughed to herself, her disposition obviously more cheerful than the last time Naruto had seen her. "You've both become celebrities of a sort overnight you know. With Gatou gone, a lot of the thugs that were sticking around here left to find more work. The rest were driven off yesterday, so now the town is starting to get back on its feet and onto the road to recovery."

The woman fidgeted excitedly with her hands. "Oh! I have so much to thank you two for...but you're probably hungry aren't you? I should've thought of that, you two probably haven't had food in nearly two days! Well, I'll just go make..."

Her voice trailed off into silence as she walked away from the doorway and down the stairs, leaving two highly amused Konoha nin in their temporary room.

Naruto turned to his partner, amusement clearly evident in what you could see of his eyes. "I'll go take a shower and meet you downstairs in fifteen?"

Tayuya gave him a nod, and began packing up what little belongings they had scattered across the room for the journey home.

* * *

Naruto sighed in contentment as he leaned back against the moist rocks of the pool, his eyes drooping closed. The steam filled air was thoroughly relaxing and the hot water of the springs practically sapped the tension away from his muscles. Now completely positive that he was as relaxed as he'd ever be, the blond allowed his thoughts to drift.

It had been nearly five hours since he and Tayuya left Wave, both still uncomfortably sore, when they saw a sigh advertising a small inn with a natural hot springs just a few miles off the main road. Both of them had quickly changed into civilian clothes in the forest, and immediately set off towards their new destination.

Upon arriving, they had gone separate ways; Tayuya off to find a massage while Naruto made a break for the hot springs.

A small giggle broke the blond from his thoughts.

He opened his blue eyes lazily and half-heartedly scanned the area. He was right next to the divider that separated the men's side from the women's side, so after a few seconds he decided to forget about the giggle and go back to his relaxation.

Just as he had closed his eyes again though, he heard the giggle again, this time louder.

Naruto sighed in annoyance, cursing his curiosity for refusing to let him rest.

The blond stepped out of the water, grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist as he did so, and padded over to where he thought the giggle originated from.

He had expected a multitude of different explanations for the giggling, but none of them were an old man with long white hair hunched over near the divider.

Naruto's mind quickly came to one conclusion, and based on the way the old man was looking through a hole in the wall, the blond had guessed perfectly.

"_Pervert."_

He sighed and himself and started to walk towards the man, Tayuya's exact whereabouts were currently unknown to him, and the idea that she could be getting peeped on made Naruto's anger boil over.

"Oi! Pervert!"

The man jumped violently and quickly twisted around, bringing a finger up to his lips as he did so.

"Shhh! Quieter gaki, quieter." He started to turn back to the fence, but looked back over at Naruto seconds later.

"And I'm not a pervert." The blond was about to speak up, but the old man continued before he could.

"I'm a super pervert."

Naruto dead-panned.

"_Well...at least he admits it..." _

He looked back towards the pervert, only to find the man's attention focused back on the small hole in the divider.

"You know, if those women found out what you were doing, it'd make for a pretty amusing scene..."

The man turned back to Naruto, an eyebrow raised, and started to walk towards him.

The blond couldn't help feeling slightly intimidated by the man, no matter how old he was. He was well over six feet tall and had no small amount of muscle to his body, the long, spiky hair only seemed to increase the influence his presence held.

He turned his gaze up to the man's head, barely catching a flicker of what he thought to be recognition in his eyes.

Before Naruto had time to think it over, the white haired man spoke.

"I'm Jiraiya, kid, the legendary Toad Sannin." The self proclaimed super pervert ignored the blond's look of blatant surprise. "I recognize you gaki, thought I'd never meet you face to face, but here we are eh?"

He paused. "I helped the fourth design that seal on your stomach you know, masterpiece that one is." The white haired man smiled, seemingly lost in memories.

Naruto's face took on a guarded look upon hearing Jiraiya talk about his tenant. The man didn't seem to harbor any ill intent towards him though, he talked about the Kyuubi in a neutral tone. That eased the blond's worries greatly, no one would want a sannin after their blood.

After a few minutes of silence, Naruto's curiosity overcame his self control.

"You knew the fourth?"

Jiraiya looked back down at the boy. "Yeah, he was my greatest pupil, a true prodigy. That label is given out far too easily these days, back when I was younger, you actually had to work hard to be called a prodigy." The man grumbled under his breath to himself for several seconds, before jerking his head up as if he had just thought of something important.

"Stay here gaki, I've got something to give you. I'll be right back."

Before Naruto could respond, the sannin had rushed into the inn to grab whatever he needed.

Despite the many questions running through his mind, he did as he was told, merely staring in confusion at the inn doors until Jiraiya returned less than a minute later.

The white haired man handed Naruto a small red book upon reaching him, before placing a hand on his shoulder and saying something that confused the blond even further.

"He would've wanted you to have this. It was the toughest decision he had to make in his entire life. Keep it safe, eh gaki?"

The Kyuubi vessel nodded, watching as Jiraiya gave him a smile and went back to the hole he had been peeping through.

Upon seeing the white haired pervert's demeanor change from serious to...perverted again, Naruto opened the book and looked at the words on the first page.

_Fuinjutsu: the Art_

_Property of Namikaze Minato_

Tayuya was thoroughly relaxed and refreshed, possibly feeling the best she'd ever felt in her life. She had gone and gotten a massage then soaked in the springs until she lost track of time. It was now nearing sunset and she couldn't feel any hint of her previous soreness.

The redhead sighed happily as she opened the door to the room she and Naruto were staying in for the night. She went about getting clothes to wear to bed and changing in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and other such things that had become her routine before she slept.

Minutes later, she exited the bathroom and looked over at Naruto.

The blond was sitting on one of the beds, a tiny red book on his lap and a scroll in front of him. He held an ink covered brush in his hand, poised over what seemed to be a half completed seal on the scroll.

Tayuya quirked an eyebrow at him. "What're doin' blondie?"

Said blond glanced up and gave her a small smile, before turning back to the book in his lap and speaking. "It's an odd story actually, I meant Jiraiya of the sannin in the hot springs and he gave me this book. He said someone would have wanted me to have it." The boy paused his progress on the seal to check something in the book before he continued to speak. "The book says it's the property of someone named Namikaze Minato, so I guess I have a relation of some sort with the guy."

Silence fell over the room aside from the sounds of brush on scroll for several moments.

Naruto lifted his head up in second thought. "Oh, Jiraiya said this book belonged to his student too. Kinda cool huh?"

Tayuya nodded absentmindedly, deciding to stop thinking some stupid red book in favor of the only thing that could make her feel better, sleep.

* * *

**A/N: **So, I got this one out in a week like I said I would...it was far easier this time because I had a lot of ideas on what I wanted it to contain. Next one'll be out anywhere from a week to two weeks.

On the topic of Kyuubi-Naruto's strength: When Naruto fought Zabuza, he beat him down without much difficulty. I've always thought of Zabuza's combat skills to be low jounin, while his stealth/assassination skills are what gained him the A-rank missing nin status, so when Kyuubi-Naruto fought an already somewhat tired Zabuza, I couldn't see the demon of the mist putting up too much of a fight.

This will probably be a semi-super!Naruto and a semi-super!Tayuya story. (I have plans for the latter, but she won't become as strong as Kyuubi-Naruto till later) The Kyuubi's chakra will play a big part in giving them an extra boost, but I'm not going to make them weak without it either.

Kyuubi's chakra brings up another issue. I don't exactly know why Kyuubi attacked Konoha in the first place, but I've seen a lot of stories that said the Sharingan of Madara could control it. Lemme make one thing clear. A giant demon fox that can level mountains and create tsunamis with a wave of its tail _will not_ be controlled by the-eye-that-does-anything-convenient-to-Kishimoto in my story.

You might've noticed Kyuubi's chakra being a little more potent in my story than it is in others. I did this to enforce the idea that _nothing _can control a demon fox that's supposedly immune to genjutsu. Naruto will get much more power and strength from using the chakra, but at much larger costs, two of which you've already seen. More pain and more influence on emotions/decisions.

Finally, on the genjutsu Naruto uses to cover the Kyuubi's influence on his body. (The claws, teeth, eyes, and whisker marks mainly) I realize I haven't really done a good job of making it clear when the illusion is up or not. So, I'm asking you to assume that it'll be on at all times unless he's actively using the Kyuubi's chakra.

I think that's all I wanted to say...I'm sure I'll think of something else as soon as I post this, but eh...I'll cover it next time. See ya then.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

_Previously_

Silence fell over the room aside from the sounds of brush on scroll for several moments.

Naruto lifted his head up in second thought. "Oh, Jiraiya said this book belonged to his student too. Kinda cool huh?"

Tayuya nodded absentmindedly, deciding to stop thinking some stupid red book in favor of the only thing that could make her feel better, sleep.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 9**

Naruto absentmindedly stuck his tongue out from between his lips as he focused on the scroll in front of him, ink covered brush in hand.

He had read the tiny red book that Jiraiya gave him, or at least the first couple pages of it as anything past that seemed to be based off of the basics themselves, something Naruto had yet to learn, while walking with Tayuya towards Konoha.

The pair was currently resting in a forest clearing for the last time before they made it back. Tayuya was working on a few genjutsu while Naruto was practicing what was quickly becoming his favorite ninja art, fuinjutsu.

The fact that he could do nearly anything with a scroll and some ink was highly appealing to the boy, as such, he had absorbed every scrap of understandable knowledge the book had to offer thus far.

He felt he had the basics down pretty well, as the previous owner had made notes on the pages that made learning seals much easier.

Namikaze Minato classified all seals into roughly four categories. There were the Containment seals, the Storage seals, the Support seals, and the Action seals. Containment seals kept something trapped within an object, usually something that could think and fight against being sealed, hence the name Containment. Storage seals were similar to Containment seals, except they usually only held objects that couldn't fight being captured. Those two were fairly easy for Naruto to learn, as each had a base seal that only had to be strengthened when needed.

The third kind of seal held no specific job other than strengthening an already existing seal. The Support seals were only there for what its name suggested, support. If you needed to store a big object, you would draw a few extra Support seals and match them with the Storage seal.

Action seals, the blond quickly found out, was a very general term for any seal that did something other than contain or store an object. These seals were most commonly used on exploding notes, though one could theoretically develop an Action seal to do any job they needed, if they could make a working and coordinated drawing, that is.

Naruto sighed. Coordination between seals was something that had stumped him for an extremely long amount of time. There were all sorts of rules that went along with fuinjutsu.

Each seal had to be formed in the shape of something pointed. The number of points a seal had determined the strength at which it could do whatever job it was made for. There could be anywhere from three points on a seal, to 186, but no matter what, you could never put an odd pointed seal with an even pointed seal.

That one was easy enough for Naruto to learn, but the book mentioned two more major rules when learning fuinjutsu. Never allow Support seals to have more than three points. If you needed to make an already existing seal stronger, you couldn't just add however many points you needed to a Support one and coordinate with the original seal. No...you had to draw numerous Support seals until you had enough for the first seal to work, and then coordinate each and every one of them.

The final rule had something to do with the effects of blood and sealing with others' chakra, but Naruto found he couldn't understand the majority of what that part of the book was talking about, so he put it off till later.

The blond grinned as he delicately finished drawing his first explosive seal, because of his inexperience, it had taken him nearly an entire half hour to do, but it was completely worth it.

He lifted up his hand and pushed some chakra into the drawing, activating the seal, before jumping back a sizable distance to avoid any injury. Naruto didn't exactly know how big the explosion was going to be, but he wanted to play it safe.

The blond brought his hand up focused his chakra on making the seal explode, just as one would do with a normal exploding note, and grinned widely when he saw the paper ignite.

As the fire hit the ink of the seal though, there wasn't a big explosion like the notes in his nin pouch. His seal only managed to make an explosion a few feet in diameter.

Naruto grimaced. It must have something to do with Support seals. He probably needed to strengthen the original seal with them...which meant learning how to coordinate seals together. Something he had been dreading ever since he glanced over the section in the book dealing with it.

The Kyuubi container was snapped out of his thoughts by Tayuya's voice though, shouting at him to "quit standing around like an idiot" and get his mission gear on to hide his appearance.

* * *

Naruto was still toying with his explosion seal when the gates of Konoha came into his and Tayuya's sight. He had found out that all support seals had to be placed on something called a binding circle, a circle that surrounded whatever seals the support was strengthening.

Currently, the blond was just putting the finishing touches on his custom explosive seal, just a few more minor altercations to the kanji and he'd be finished, at least that's what he hoped for.

Tayuya, who had taken a slight interest in watching Naruto while he drew his seals, chose that moment to speak up.

"What that's one do blondie? Something useful...I hope."

Her partner grinned. "If I drew it right, it'll do something real useful." Instead of speaking further, he completed his seal by infusing it with his chakra and ran over to a nearby tree. The blond placed the seal on the bark and jumped back over to where Tayuya was watching his actions curiously.

"What..." She started, but stopped when Naruto held his hand up.

He then focused his chakra on detonating his seal, and watched with hopeful eyes as the paper caught fire.

As the fire made contact with the seal, the ink immediately glowed white and detonated, causing a sizable portion of the tree to explode in a ball of fire.

Tayuya didn't try to hide her surprise as Naruto celebrated at her side, making and putting a seal together was by no means easy. She had looked into it a few years ago, but the book the public library had on seals was complete gibberish to her.

She didn't waste any time in telling Naruto her thoughts.

"Yeah, but some people can make those in thirty seconds flat, it took me a whole trip." The blond responded with a proud smirk on his face.

The red head snorted. "Whatever, be all humble and shit, but you still just accomplished something that a lot of jounin can't even do."

Naruto merely grinned at her before continuing towards Konoha.

* * *

Once they were inside Konoha, Naruto and Tayuya slipped into a darkened alleyway to change back into their civilian clothes and head towards the Hokage tower.

Their trip there was accompanied by the usual glares and sneers, which they readily answered with feral grins. The fact that it bore a striking resemblance to a certain fox was completely lost on the two Konoha genin.

It wasn't long before the pair could see the top of the dome-like building that was the Hokage tower appearing over the horizon, and only minutes later, they found themselves inside the Sandaime's office.

Naruto started.

"Mission was successful, old man."

Sarutobi allowed himself a small proud smile. "Good job you two, I knew you could do it all along." He paused to take in a breath before shuffling around his desk for the mission file. "Was there anything unusual that I should know about?"

Tayuya shrugged. "Not much, just some shit head missing nin Gatou hired to protect him."

The old man nodded. "What rank were they?"

"There were two weaklings that couldn't have been more than C, another sexually confused idiot that was probably a B-rank, and the top fucker himself was an A-rank." His teammate's language always managed to amuse Naruto, whether they were about to die or talking to the strongest ninja in Leaf.

Sarutobi furrowed his brow, choosing to ignore Tayuya's colorful descriptions in favor of the base facts. "An A-rank missing nin, I'm impressed." He paused here to scribble something on the mission document. "I'll look into the matter with Wave, but before you go, I have something to discuss with the two of you."

The man continued after pausing for a few seconds. "First off, I want you two to rest and recuperate before you take any more missions, three days should do."

The two genin nodded.

"Good. After your break, I'll most likely be sending you on a more difficult mission with the other genin team that graduated with you, to give you some experience in working together with them. It's what I need you to do after that though, that called for this discussion."

Sarutobi meant both Naruto's and Tayuya's eyes before continuing. "Many villages have a justifiable reason to bear a grudge against us...Iwa, Kumo, Ame... and I am worried that something will happen during our hosting of the Chuunin Exams." He shuffled around the papers on his desk and showed the two genin the reports over missing nin disappearances and Iwa's increase in ninja.

"I believe the two of you know where I'm heading now?"

The pair nodded, a gesture which the elderly man returned.

"Alright, just know for now that it's a deep infiltration mission and that you will likely stay in Iwa for weeks, maybe months." He paused to sigh deeply. "Now then, you are free to go, I will contact you in three days time for your next mission."

* * *

Gekkou Hayate landed in his team's training grounds slightly winded, having just run across Konoha in five minutes flat.

It had been two days since Naruto and Tayuya returned from their mission, and the first break Hayate had gotten from the planning of the exams.

The sickly nin knew that his genin would be leaving the village tomorrow for a mission with Kakashi's team, so he wanted to at least get in a day's worth of training and catching up with each other before they left again.

"Hey kiddies!" He called out.

Naruto shot him an irritated glare while Tayuya simply ignored him entirely from where she sat on a rock, staring out at a nearby pond.

"I haven't seen you two in weeks and this is the greeting I get?" He quirked his eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips.

This time, his blond student grinned back at him.

"Sorry sensei, but being a real ninja...yanno, going on missions and such...it's hard work." He paused. "Don't get me wrong though, planning an exam _must _be hard work."

Hayate felt himself begin to grin in return. "Alright alright, come over here so we can start. I can tell just by looking at you two that you've slacking off."

Naruto snorted, but approached his sensei anyway, Tayuya trailing slightly behind him.

"Now then, since we've been separated for such a long time, I need you to spar to get me up to date on your skills. After that's done, we'll go from there."

* * *

Naruto and Tayuya were walking side by side towards the Hokage tower where they were to meet up with Kakashi's team to receive their mission.

The pair had ordinary ninja gear on, the basics that most shinobi wore. Naruto had his goggles around his neck while Tayuya sported a pair of new daggers on her right hip, both about eighteen inches long from base to tip.

Hayate had gathered that the red head was lacking when it came to close combat skills, so he had gotten the weapons from his apartment and went about teaching Tayuya a variation of one of the many kenjutsu he knew.

This one could be used for daggers, though it was originally meant for a sword about the size of an ANBU blade. It was a highly defensive oriented style, but that suited Tayuya's purpose fine. After all, in an optimal situation, she wouldn't even have to engage in close combat, but being prepared was never a bad thing.

Their sensei had instructed Tayuya in the stances and movements until she had the base skills of the style down while Naruto had been working on his genjutsu detection abilities.

Both the genin had made progress, improving themselves in areas they sorely needed it in just a little.

One never knew what could potentially save lives at any given time though, so even a little improvement was a great accomplishment to both Tayuya and Naruto.

Said blond took in a large breath of the fresh morning air, reveling in the energized feeling it gave him, as the Hokage tower came into view over the horizon. He was in a particularly good mood today and had absolutely no idea why.

He didn't exactly care though.

A barely audible sigh from Tayuya distracted Naruto though, even his improved hearing had trouble picking up the noise.

The blond looked over at his partner, just catching her hide a saddened expression on her face. She'd been withdrawn over the past few days, very unlike her usual personality around him.

He furrowed his brow. "Neh, Tayuya, anything wrong?"

The red head looked over at him, seriously considering telling him that everything was fine and leaving it there. No secrets had come between the two of them since the day they told each other about their pasts though, they told each other everything without any insecurities or doubts. It was a trust Tayuya valued greatly...though she'd never tell blondie that.

She silently gave him a small nod and allowed herself to be led into a small alleyway off the main road. She kept her head slightly tilted downwards, unwilling to meet his eyes, a gesture that only served to worry Naruto further.

He was by no means perceptive when it came to the female sex, but when a change so drastic occurred in the girl he'd lived with since he was seven, there was no way that he couldn't notice it.

So he did the first thing that came to mind, and wrapped an arm around her waist. Tayuya unconsciously leaned into him, eventually allowing her forehead to rest against the blond's shoulder.

She took a deep breath, a slight shudder to it. "My father lives in Earth Country." Her voice was barely a murmur.

It took Naruto a moment to realize what she meant. _"The mission the old man was talking about..."_

He blinked, suddenly unsure of what to do next, but eventually decided to go with what felt right to him.

"We can tell the old man we can't take the mission-"

"No. I don't want to avoid a mission just because of him. I can't!" Tayuya angrily whispered out against his shoulder. "I won't just run away because of that... that bastard and what he did."

She was breathing slightly quicker at this point, shuddering occasionally. It wasn't until Naruto felt a slight wetness on his shoulder that he realized what was happening.

"_She's crying..." _

A feeling of anger suddenly started boiling in his gut, the thought of someone causing this to happen to Tayuya angered him for reasons he didn't even understand. He just knew he wanted to get rid of that someone, no matter what the cost...

His jaw clenched, teeth sharpening, while the whisker marks on his face began to darken.

Another shudder served to snap Naruto out of his thoughts though, his attention immediately returning to the dilemma he faced in comforting his partner.

The anger receded, his features returning to normal with no one even realizing the change in the first place.

Still slightly unsure of himself, he wrapped his other arm around her as well and gently pulled her against him, whispering in her ear as he did so, determination sewn into his voice.

"He won't do anything to you, he _can't _do anything to you now. And even if he tries something, I'll stop him, _we'll _stop him; I won't allow him to do shit to you Tayuya. That's a promise."

The blond pulled back slightly to rest his chin on the top of her head, closing his eyes in hope that whatever he just did might comfort her in some way. He panicked though, when the red head in his arms let out an audible sob and wrapped her arms around his neck, no longer holding back her tears as she cried into his shoulder.

Naruto kept his arms firmly but gently locked around his partner while his mind was furiously attempting to understand what was going on.

Had he made it worse?

He didn't know...

The blond absentmindedly gave Tayuya a slight squeeze, his mind coming to the conclusion that it was best to wait it out at this point, and apologize for whatever he did after she was done.

A few minutes later Tayuya pulled back, wiping at her eyes and sniffing quietly. Naruto was already in the process of opening his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

"Thanks, Naruto." She spoke out quietly, but sincerely.

The blond blinked in confusion, but felt his face split into a relieved grin upon seeing Tayuya smile.

The two of them merely stood there for several moments, simply looking at each other, both unsure of what to do next.

The red head solved that problem after she had successfully hidden any evidence that she had been crying though, her mouth twitching into a smirk Naruto had seen many times.

"Well blondie, what are waiting for...let's go find out what we have to do and get to showing those _clan ninja _what real ninja are like."

The boy felt himself smirked back as he nodded, both of them taking off towards the tower with a light hearted feeling that wasn't present before.

* * *

Upon their arrival, Tayuya and Naruto discovered that they were last to arrive, which served to gain them a look of annoyance from the sole Uchiha.

Tayuya put on a fake smile, and nodded to each of their former classmates as she greeted them.

"Dickless brooder, chronic hot flasher, and the walking ant farm. How're ya doin'?"

Sarutobi quickly cleared his throat to put a stop to any conflict, decidedly ignoring the smirk plastered on both Naruto and Tayuya's faces.

The old man sighed, exasperation clear in his voice as he began. "Hayate is busy with the chuunin exams, so he will not be join the six of you on this cooperative mission designed to promote _teamwork_."

The red headed girl shrugged under the Hokage's gaze and answered nonchalantly. "They make it too easy."

The Sandaime decided to cut his loses, getting straight to the point would be the best he could do now. "Some farmers in Tea Country have been experiencing multiple bandit attacks, to the point where they've become bad enough to warrant a B-rank mission. You are to eliminate the bandit groups responsible for the disturbances and any ninja they might have with them. The farmers will give you the information needed to go about that task. This mission has a maximum duration of two weeks. Are there any questions?"

Tayuya raised her hand.

Sarutobi rubbed his temples at the feeling of a growing headache, but nodded to the girl despite his better judgment.

"Do you have any of those books that medics carry around, the ones with all the basic survival shit in them, for me to bring along?"

The elderly man quirked an eyebrow, his unspoken question causing the red head to elaborate.

"If I wake up in the middle of the night to find emo boy over there has raped Naruto, I wanna know what to do to stop any mental trauma."

Kakashi had taken hold of the collar of Sasuke's shirt at this point to stop the boy from attempting to maul Tayuya.

"Only thing that might cause that idiot trauma is seeing you every single time he wakes up in the morning."

Sarutobi cut in with a forced smile on his face. "Well, you leave through the West gate in an hour. Good luck Kakashi."

The masked nin could only glare as he dragged his student out of the room, followed closely by Hinata and Shino.

* * *

**A/N:** I've always felt that when authors have Naruto learn fuinjutsu, they go with the typical description that leaves out any detail. I wanted to get away from that vagueness, so I designed my own base for fuinjutsu. I hope it wasn't too difficult to understand, I tried making it as simple as possible while keeping the level of difficulty I feel seals should have.

I can't think of anything else at this point, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter, next one'll be up in a week or two. See ya then.

* * *

For readers' benefit, I'll be putting this in at the end of every chapter.

_Namikaze Minato's: Fuinjutsu for Idiots_

Four types (Containment, Support, Storage, and Action).

# of points on a seal the power of it. (3 is a triangle, 4 is a square, 5 is a pentagon, etc...)

No even point seals with odd point seals, it's liable to blow you up.

Support seals must be put on binding circles around the main seal. (Just what the name says it is, a circle you place Support seals on that surrounds the main seal you're using)

Support seals cannot have more than three points each.

Coordinating seals is a general term for doing things like using a binding circle when appropriate, no overlapping seals, and figuring out how to combine two kanji for a desired effect.


	11. Chapter 11

_Previously_

Sarutobi cut in with a forced smile on his face. "Well, you leave through the West gate in an hour. Good luck Kakashi."

The masked nin could only glare as he dragged his student out of the room, followed closely by Hinata and Shino.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 10**

The night was silent and cool, nothing but the rustling of leaves could be heard for miles. A full moon illuminated the forests of Fire country with a soft white hue, making for a very calming affect on anyone that was awake to see it.

It was under this moonlight that Naruto lay sprawled out at the base of a tree located on the edge of the clearing that the Konoha nin had made camp in.

It was his turn to keep watch, Kakashi having just gone to bed, and he was on the verge of falling asleep. Shadow clones were currently patrolling the nearby area for any signs of hostility though, so he wasn't too concerned.

Nights like this always made him long for nothing more than a warm bed to fall asleep in, after all.

He sighed and shifted about against the tree until he found a comfortable position, silently grumbling about how unfair it was that Tayuya was able to fall asleep whenever she wanted to, no matter the weather, while he typically tossed and turned for a half hour before sleep claimed him.

A rustling sound was heard at that moment. Naruto looked towards the tent he and Tayuya were sharing, just in time to see his red headed partner clumsily exit the tiny shelter.

She rubbed at her eyes blearily, clearly having just woken up.

The blond smirked, while he couldn't fall asleep without a fight, he was always able to be fully awake and aware in less than a minute after first opening his eyes, the same could not be said for Tayuya.

They were like that in many ways, completely opposite of each other. Naruto preferred being cold over being warm any day, while Tayuya couldn't stand feeling chilly. He was unorganized and messy while she took on a perfectionist attitude and couldn't stand anything that wasn't organized or sorted.

It was for those last reasons that their small rooms back at the apartment looked like exact opposites of each other.

Naruto turned back to his partner and watched as she blinked several times, her searching eyes eventually finding him at the base of a tree.

She stood and made her way over to him whilst muttered out excuses under her breath.

"Couldn't sleep...damn fucking ground feels like...fucking sleeping bag is complete shit..."

Naruto chuckled to himself, thoughts of sleep now far from his mind, as he watched his partner practically throw herself down next to him and attempt to get comfortable. She fidgeted around for nearly a minute before finally settling down and closing her eyes, only to open them seconds later with an annoyed sigh.

"Fucking...forgot the stupid ass..."

She heaved herself up, seemingly unaware that Naruto was even there, and crawled back into their tent.

The blond was grinning at this point, his head tilted back while his shoulders shook with suppressed laughter, as he watched the girl come back out with her sleeping bag. She clumsily forced her body into it while standing and fell back against the tree again, about foot from her partner.

The Kyuubi vessel shook his head amusedly before refocusing on his task of guarding the camp.

Seconds later, he found himself starting to get drowsy again.

"_Hate guard duty..."_ He lazily closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree, fighting to stay awake in what had to be the most peaceful night he'd felt.

As Naruto felt himself start to drift in and out of sleep nearly fifteen minutes later though, a pressure on his shoulder and arm brought back his awareness. He looked over to find that Tayuya had shifted to her side in her sleep, latching on and curling up against the closest source of warmth, which just happened to be him. He felt a small smile tug at his lips as his eyes found her face, framed by messy red hair.

The peaceful look that was present there almost made her seem like a completely different person. Someone who hadn't had a past any grown man would shudder at. The frown that always marred her features and the attitude she took towards people she didn't know wouldn't even seem possible for the beautiful face in front of him.

He felt his cheeks become slightly tinged with red, he had no problems admitting that he thought she looked great no matter what she was doing, just as long as he didn't have to do it out loud.

The blond lightly pressed his lips against her forehead before he realized what he was doing, but didn't miss the smile that appeared on the red head's face as he pulled away, cheeks a little darker.

"_**How fucking cute. Cut the sappy shit before you force me to slit my wrists you worthless sack of blood and bones."**_

Naruto sighed. _"Don't you have anything better to do?"_

"_**I'm locked inside a fucking sewer for all of eternity you mindless skin bag. What the fuck do you think?"**_

The blond decided not to answer, instead shifting around for a few seconds until he found a position comfortable enough to sleep in. He absentmindedly wrapped an arm around Tayuya's waist, pulling her body heat closer to him, before he finally succumbed to the blissful darkness.

* * *

Tayuya kept her gaze firmly locked on the road ahead of her, refusing to give that damnable silver haired pervert any more amusement. She and Naruto had slept through the night without any disturbances, but to their great misfortune, Kakashi had been the first to wake up.

The copy nin had immediately set out to make their lives as embarrassing as possible, taking no less than 26 pictures of the sleeping pair.

At least that's the number of them he'd shown to the five genin, much to Sasuke's vindicative pleasure. Shino didn't experience any visible reaction to them and Hinata had just given them a small smile.

Those two hadn't been so bad, but the two sharingan users were currently making Tayuya want to kill something, slowly...and with her bare hands.

"Ahh young love, such a be," Tayuya flinched, "-a," flinch, "-u," flinch, "-tiful thing, eh Sasuke?"

The boy in question grinned cruely, sarcasm lacing his voice. "One of the most important parts of being a ninja."

Kakashi didn't seem to know what to respond with, so the torture stopped there as silence fell over the group.

Tayuya let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and chanced a look over at Naruto. He was wearing a clearly exasperated look on his face, but seemed resigned in a way, not annoyed in the slightest.

The red head growled under her breath, ready to tell the blond off quite vocally for allowed her to suffer through the insults while he was able to completely ignore them, when Kakashi's voice caused her to look back up at the road.

"Well, this is Tea Country. We only need to travel for a few more hours until we reach our clients."

The forests were indeed finally clearing, signifying the end of Fire Country. They broke off into wide open grassy plains, spotted with the occasional farm or town here and there. A steady wind caused the grass to bend and flow while the few trees that were scattered across the land shook with the breeze. Tea Country was a beautiful place.

A familiar brushing sound gained Tayuya's attention. She turned to find her partner had taken out a small scroll and started practicing his seal work while he walked.

The blond dove head first into fuinjutsu as soon as they had gotten back from Wave several days earlier, using shadow clones to memorize all the seals he could. He had gotten many of the basic seals down and could now draw them purely from memory, things such as the explosion seal and a few variations of the storage seal. Anything beyond that was when Naruto became liable to blow himself up, as well as anything near him.

Tayuya sighed in boredom, coming to the realization that nearly everyone had something to do but her.

It was going to be a long walk to their client.

* * *

Baku, the kanji used on exploding notes to cause all the damage.

Naruto was currently tweaking one of these seals to see if he could get different reactions out of the chakra laced paper. Thus far he'd made about three changes to the original seal, and one, out of pure dumb luck, had made the explosion more volatile.

The other ones just managed to fizzle out, much to the blond's disappointment.

He had still made a change to the kanji that caused it to be more effective though, which was much more than any other novice fuinjutsu user could say.

He set down the seal he'd been toying with, a grin on his face, and exited the tent he shared with Tayuya.

The Konoha team had meant up with their clients, an elderly couple that owned a nearby farm, and gotten enough information to find the first bandit camp rather quickly.

Not like smoke from a massive bonfire and shouted drunken lyrics to made upsongs were hard to find though.

Nonetheless, the six ninja had set up camp a good distance from the bandits and set about observing them until nightfall, when they would strike.

Kakashi had the genin do most of the information gathering for experience, and had gone into his tent hours ago after telling them to meet back here an hour before sundown to discuss and plan a strategy.

Naruto looked up at the sky and judged that it was nearly time for the genin to report back, in fact, the only one that was still missing was Tayuya.

The blond shot down the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach almost immediately, scolding himself for his lapse of faith in his partner's abilities. She was just as good at hiding as he was and probably better when it came to infiltrating an enemy camp. He usually approached situations with far less tact and subtlety than she did, after all.

A rustling in the bushes announced Tayuya's return to the camp, and not a second later, Kakashi exited his tent.

The man gave his patented one-eyed smile. "Well team, what'd you find?"

The genin looked around amongst themselves, silently attempting to determine who would go first. In the end, Sasuke spoke up with a hint of impatience to his voice.

"The camp looks to be no more than 100 meters in length or width and the bandits in it are almost always drunk or asleep. I didn't spot any ninja in the group, going off of what their postures and stances looked like. The whole lot of them looked like untrained idiots."

Kakashi nodded. "Good work Sasuke."

Hinata started next, her voice significantly softer than her teammate's. "The tents are set up with the smallest on the outer edge of the clearing, while the larger ones are right at the center. The biggest tent had several people who appeared to move like a ninja might in it, so I believe they are the leaders of the group."

The white haired ninja nodded again. "Nice work Hinata, particularly your use of the Byakugan."

The monotone voice of Shino was heard throughout the small clearing next. "My insects managed to gather that patrols are switched every three hours, starting at eight tonight. The ninja in the main tent, where my insects heard the information, also mentioned that the bandits were lazy and often late to their patrols. Sometimes they don't even show up for them."

Kakashi smirked under his mask. "Well, it looks like we found the time when it's best to attack. Good job, Shino."

Naruto started next. "I surrounded the clearing with hidden shadow clones and can confirm both Hinata's and Sasuke's reports. My copies overheard some not-so-quiet bandits going on about a party tonight at ten. It's supposed to be a big one too, most of the group should be involved and drunk by the time the first patrol shift is done at eleven."

The Sharingan nin nodded. "Eleven seems to be the best time to attack thus far. Good work Naruto."

Tayuya didn't wait for Kakashi to turn to her before she started. "I sneaked into the place and managed to copy a patrol route and schedule down. I also got a closer look at the ninja in the main tent too. Most of them could barely pass as ninja, their stances were as fucked up as blondie's before I came along," she ignored Naruto's indignant cry. "There's a couple of the little shits that seem like they might put up a fight though, chuunin or jounin, most likely."

The Konoha jounin nodded again, taking the offered patrol schedule and falling silent for several moments.

Not much later, Kakashi looked up at his team with a serious aspect to his visible eye. "Alright, here's what we'll do. At eleven the north side defenses will likely be the weakest, so once the patrol changes there, Sasuke, Hinata and I will take care whoever actually shows up for their shift. From there, we'll make our way into the camp, drawing as little attention to ourselves as possible, before going on an all out attack."

The man took in a breath. "Tayuya, I need you to dispose of one of the ninja that was in the main tent before elven tonight. You will take his or her place and assassinate as many of the other higher-ups that you can as soon as you here the first sounds of battle. Naruto, you'll be her support. Stay as close to her as you can without drawing suspicion. Once the fighting starts, I want the two of you to work your way north through the camp, until you meet up with me, Sasuke and Hinata."

He took in a deep breath again and turned to the last nin of his team. "Shino, I want you positioned on the south end of the camp, as close as you can get while staying safe. You'll be alone down there, so don't take any risks. You will need to spread your bugs throughout as much of the camp as you can. Once you here the sounds of battle start up, leave them to kill as many bandits as they can and make your way north around the perimeter of the clearing.

"Am I understood?"

The masked nin received five nods as a reply.

"Alright then, we have just over two hours before the attack begins, get to your positions and ready yourselves for the fight."

* * *

"Kakashi, Hinata and Sasuke in position. Report in."

"Shino, ready to begin."

"This is Naruto, Tayuya and I are ready whenever."

"Alright, standby team, fifteen minutes remaining."

Naruto lowered his hand from the somewhat bulky communicator that all ninja were issued, already missing the specially made pair that he and Tayuya shared.

He was currently perched high in a tall tree on the perimeter of the camp, at least ten meters off the ground. From his view point, he could see the entire camp, including the tent a disguised Tayuya had entered not minutes earlier.

The two of them had gotten lucky in their search for a ninja for the red head to replace, finding not one, but two of the weaker nin.

Naruto had killed one while Tayuya swiftly knocked the other unconscious, before the man even knew he had been hit. The foul mouthed girl then placed a genjutsu over herself to disguise her voice and looks as that of the man her partner had killed.

After the body of the dead nin had been disposed of, Tayuya had surprised Naruto by placing a minor genjutsu over the unconscious ninja as well, causing his eyes to become dilated.

When questioned, the red head said that she discovered the ninja thought there was a spy in their midst. So to cover up any slips she might make, Tayuya made a distraction out of the other ninja. Dilated eyes made it hard for an individual not to wince and twitch when they looked anywhere near something bright, an action that would quickly draw suspicion of treason amongst seasoned ninja.

Of course, Tayuya was counting on the fact that the ninja wouldn't notice the man's dilated eyes.

Naruto could only grin and shake his head as she woke the man and gave him a cover story as to why he was unconscious, before climbing the tree he was currently sitting in.

The blond sighed as he withdrew himself from his thoughts, idly stretching out his muscles before the upcoming fight, almost impatiently waiting for the sign to attack.

The signal soon came, far too early to be planned, in the form of an explosion from the tent Tayuya had entered.

Naruto stood up and attempted to see what had happened, only to find that even his improved vision was at a loss.

He grit his teeth and clenched his fist, worry for his partner and responsibility to follow orders fighting for influential dominance in his mind.

He looked back toward the tent, finding that the explosion had gotten the attention of several bandits who were currently heading towards Tayuya's position.

Worry won out, the blond jumped towards the camp and used his wind chakra to slow his fall, a dangerous looking snarl on his face.

* * *

Tayuya ducked under a kunai slash that would have left her without a head, allowing her momentum to bring her into a sideways roll. The moment she regained her footing she started to backpedal, nearly losing her balance in the suddenness of the action, to avoid a searing hot katon jutsu. She forced a breath through her lungs, using the split second break to her advantage, before starting a rapid chain of hand seals.

The red head never even got a fourth of the way through the sequence before the two chuunin ninja she was facing were upon her, both simultaneously lashing out with their kunai in a rare show of teamwork. She cursed to herself and broke the hand seals to block one of the enemy kunai with her dagger while twisting her body up and over the other one, using the first one she was blocking as a point of balance.

Tayuya allowed her momentum to enforce the hard kick aimed at the head of one of her opponents and grinned at the flawless result.

However, a sudden loss of support caused her grin to fade and eyes to widen.

The red head twisted in the middle of her attack in an attempt to at least regain the balance she'd lost when her opponent had pulled his kunai out from under her blade. She landed on her feet but had to throw her arms out to keep herself upright, a move that left her wide open for attack.

It didn't exactly help that her back was turned to her opponents either.

Tayuya was in the middle of turning around when she felt a burning sensation travel across a large section of her back, followed swiftly by a similar feeling on the side of her left thigh.

The red head lost her balance again and fell to the ground on her injured side. She quickly turned on her back, but the chuunin were already on her, kunai poised for the kill.

"Stop."

The jounin who led this particular bandit camp, a nasty looking fellow with a large burn scar covering the right side of his face, decided to intervene at that moment.

"_Cock sucking bastard's just been watching this entire time, now the fucktard just wants all the credit for himself." _Tayuya's mind was a mix of anger and panic, being held at kunai point by two chuunin level ninja wasn't good for one's nerves, after all.

"Tie her up. She's bound to have comrades around here somewhere. We can use her to our advantage."

The red head seethed over finding the sole bandit camp with a jounin who actually used his brain, and that said jounin's chakra sensory abilities were beyond her comprehension. Had he not been here, her genjutsu would've gone perfectly and one of the very chuunin she was just fighting would be dead for treason.

Tayuya shook her head clear of her thoughts of she felt her hands being tied together behind her back and her kunai pouch being taken off her hip. She'd have to think of a new way to escape now...

A gust of wind blew several small stones and pebbles through the open flap of the tent.

The red head grinned. Maybe she wouldn't have to escape after all.

Just as the chuunin had finished tying her hands together, moving to her feet with his back facing the enterance of the tent, he let out a strangled gasp before collapsing to the ground.

Both the remaining chunnin and the jounin in the tent twisted towards the sound, warily searching for their new enemy.

That enemy came in the form of a blond boy holding a kunai near the front of the tent.

Tayuya grinned. "S'about time you got here blondie. Support my ass."

"Not my fault you can't do a genjutsu right to save your life." Came the oh-so-witty reply from Naruto, a matching superior grin plastered on his face.

The red head raised a delicate eyebrow. "Really. So it wasn't you that tripped over a piece of string hidden under an academy level illusion?"

Her partner shook his head. "I have no recollection of such an event."

Before either could say anymore though, the scarred jounin interrupted.

"As charming as this conversation is, I can't allow you to help the girl."

Without any further warning, the jounin started a chain of hand seals while the remaining chuunin dashed forward.

Naruto pulled out a kunai and started his own chain of hand seals with his free hand, waiting for the chuunin to reach him.

Not even a second later, the blond finished his hand seals and punched forward with his free hand.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!"

The burst of wind caught the charging nin completely off guard, blowing him back to collapse in a heap near his jounin comrade's feet.

Naruto grinned, but it quickly faded as the jounin seemly appeared in front of him at that moment, lashing out with a kunai. He blocked the enemy strike easily enough, the man obviously didn't favor fighting in close combat, and twisted to send a kick at his opponent's midsection.

Before the blond could make contact though, the jounin disappeared again.

Naruto twisted around in an attempt to relocate his opponent, only to find him appearing again at his side.

The Kyuubi vessel threw himself to the right to avoid a kunai strike and immediately got into a defensive stance facing the jounin.

The man disappeared again, this time showing up inside the blond's guard.

Before Naruto could anything though, he felt the back of his head erupt in pain. He fell forward, the jounin fading from existance again, as Tayuya's voice suddenly made it to his ears.

"-was a genjutsu you idiot! You were standing in the same place for a good five seconds straight before he-"

Naruto moaned quietly, his vision blurry and currently fading in and out. He was on the verge of losing consciousness from the blow, and the pulsing that was afflicting his head wasn't helping in the slightest. He vaguely felt his hands and feet being bound and the chuunin from earlier dragging him over towards where Tayuya was.

The man put him back to back with the red head and threw a small amount of water into the blond's face.

It was enough to shake Naruto into staying conscious. His vision became more focused as he blinked several times, his hearing and other senses returning to him soon after.

"You alright blondie?" Tayuya's whispered with a hint of concern in her voice.

The blond nodded against the back of Tayuya's head, still not trusting his voice in his dazed state quite yet.

"When we get back to Konoha, I'm forcing you to let me teach you how to recognize a damned genjutsu."

Naruto laughed quietly, nodding again.

Further conversation was halted as they fell into a somewhat depressed silence.

* * *

Kakashi lazily dodged around the blows from several bandits, effortlessly moving between enemies and striking them down when the chance presented itself. These men could probably match an average genin at the speed they were moving, some might be able to survive against a rookie chuunin, but against a former ANBU captain...there'd be a cold day in hell before they survived more than two seconds.

The white haired nin sighed, sorely tempted to bring out his favorite reading material to help pass the time. He, Sasuke and Hinata had been steadily making their way through the bandits towards the center of the camp for the past five minutes, and it didn't look like it'd be getting interesting anytime soon.

Kakashi tossed a look towards Sasuke while simultaneously ducking under an sloppy attempt at a decapitation.

The Uchiha was holding his own against a large amount of bandits at once, his signature Sharingan blazing with excitement in his eyes.

Sensei watched student as the blue haired boy parried an attack before flashing through a short chain of hand seals to send a searing hot fire ball at a group of bandits. Before the screams of those having their flesh charred off them ended, the young ninja had sent several shuriken ladened with ninja wire at a clustered group of bandits. The boy waited until the shuriken had struck ground before using another Katon jutsu, the Uchiha clan's specialty, to ignite the wire and burn an even greater amount of bandits alive than before.

Kakashi nodded to himself as he idly tilted his head to the side, avoiding another blow from a sword, before turning towards his other student.

The Hyuuga heiress seemed to have scared her bandit opponents into staying a good ten feet from her at all times, if the circle formed around the blue haired girl was any indication.

The white haired jounin chuckled to himself, the thought of his quiet student causing so much fear in grown men was quite humorous to him, before focusing on her fight.

Hinata charged the nearest bandit, her Byukugan pulsing, and delivered what seemed to be no more than a tap to where the man's heart was. The bandit died instantly, never able to see the Hyuuga heiress take out five more of his comrades before his body even hit the ground.

Kakashi turned away from her, having seen all he needed to. Both his students were doing very well, he could only hope Shino, Naruto and Tayuya had the same luck.

* * *

Naruto was silently seething at the situation he and Tayuya had landed themselves into.

The genjutsu using jounin was sitting at a table a couple meters from the blond's position, pouring over a map of some sorts while muttering to himself every so often. A few bandits were inside the tent now as well, having come to see what the commotion was and ended up getting guard duty for the new prisoners.

Naruto snorted to himself, if his captors knew about the attack the rest of the Konoha party was making on the camp, they were doing a damned good job at hiding it.

The jinchuuriki fidgeted again, trying in vain to get out of the chakra sapping ropes that bound him.

How a group of bandits had gotten a hold of them, he didn't know. All he knew was they were damned annoying to be tied up with.

The sound of movement caused the Kyuubi vessel's attention to snap back into awareness.

One of the bandits that had been suckered into guarding them was walking towards him and Tayuya, a dark glint in his eyes.

"Hey boss...can we have some fun with the girl?"

Anger and rage immediately erupted inside Naruto. He'd die before he let that happen.

"Do what you will, just don't kill her."

The boy could feel his teeth sharpening and his nails growing into claws. He was about to tear through his rope bindings and rip the bandits to shreds, but a pressure against the palm of his hand stopped him.

For reasons Naruto was unaware of, the touch calmed him greatly and even managed to spread a warm feeling through his entire arms.

It took the boy a moment to figure out that it was actually Tayuya's fingers causing the calming effect that was currently overcoming him.

The red head didn't say a word, but Naruto understood enough to know that she didn't want him to interfere.

He sighed in resignation, forcing himself to be content with trusting in whatever his partner had planned.

The disgusting looking bandit, as Naruto decided to label him, had made it to Tayuya's feet. The man pulled out his sword and grabbed the ropes around her ankles to cut it loose.

A grin nearly split the blond's face, thanking kami that the jounin wasn't watching his subordinate practically kill himself out of stupidity.

He felt a small object fall into his hand as the bandit started cutting the rope. After feeling it for a moment, he realized it was the small blade Tayuya carried inside her sleeve at all times, in case something like this ever happened.

Naruto got to work on cutting the ropes around his and his partner's wrists, while Tayuya started to build up chakra in one of her legs.

The ropes from around both their wrists fell to the ground as the bandit took his first step forward.

It was then that Tayuya struck.

The girl released the chakra she'd built up in one large burst, resulting in a massive boost of speed and strength to the kick she had lined up.

Right at the man's groin.

The man howled in pain, immediately falling into a fetal position, as Tayuya quickly shot to her feet and started towards where the bandits had put her weapon pouch.

The red head reached said objects just as her partner had finished cutting through the ropes around his ankles and the jounin had realized just what was going on. She threw one of the bags at Naruto and took a kunai out of the other before charging the jounin head on.

Said scarred man was already starting on a chain of hand seals, but never got to finish them, courtesy of a well aimed Daitoppa.

Tayuya had reached him at this point and quickly slashed out with her kunai. The man flipped backwards to avoid the blow, again attempting another chain of hand seals once he had regained his footing.

A hail of shuriken from Naruto cut off his progress this time, quickly followed by the irate blond himself. He had forgone the use of a kunai, instead settling for jumping at the off balanced man, his momentum behind him, and planting both his feet in the enemy jounin's gut.

The nin went flying backwards, a burst of pure wind laced chakra from Naruto's feet following close behind.

By then, the remaining two bandits had managed to get close enough to make an attempt at defending their leader.

They didn't last half a second.

Naruto and Tayuya turned back towards the downed jounin after dealing with the annoyances, and saw that the man was still struggling to his feet. They advanced on him cautiously.

Tayuya stopped about half way though, and held up her hands in a chakra molding position while muttering "kai".

The red head saw the bloodied jounin struggling to stand disappear, instead being replaced with the real one that was currently charging Naruto. She sprinted forward, yelling out a warning to her partner on the way.

"Naruto! Genjutsu!"

The jounin's eyes narrowed, his attention now focused on the red head closing in on him. The burst of razor sharp wind the blond had sent at him had glanced his right leg though, forcing him to focus most of his weight to the left side.

Tayuya picked up on that fact instantly.

She threw several shuriken at the left side of the jounin, watching with a calculating stare as he struggled to, predictably, move to the right.

The red head hurled the kunai she'd been carrying at a position to the right of the enemy nin in a move that would seem like an absolutely ridiculous thing to do.

The meaning behind the action soon revealed itself though, as the jounin stepped right into the path of the kunai.

He tried the jump backwards, but stumbled over his injured leg, causing him to fall flat on his back with a kunai firmly piercing his shoulder.

"Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba!"

Tayuya smirked. That was the strongest, and fastest, ninjutsu Naruto knew and with the jounin's current condition...

Sure enough, even as the man was twisting his head towards the blond, a razor sharp burst of wind pierced him straight through the chest.

In seconds, the man lay on the ground, completely unmoving.

Both Naruto and Tayuya breathed a sigh of relief, now they just had to worry about fighting their way through hordes of bandits...

* * *

**A/N: **Well, that's all for this time. Sorry it's a bit late, but it's a good 1.5k words longer than my usual...I figure it evens out.

If any of you feel the fight with the jounin leading the bandits went a little to easily, he was specialized in Genjutsu and weaker when it came to the other ninja aspects. Tayuya and Naruto are fairly well rounded, each achieving around a chuunin level nin's skill in each area (Except for certain parts, ex: Genjutsu for Naruto)

Going off of the previous paragraph, I decided to clarify the level that both Naruto and Tayuya are at for the readers, both out of boredom and necessity. I've seen someone else do something like this...I don't know if he got it from a site or made it himself, but if it's the latter, credit goes to him.

1: Academy Student.

2: Genin

3: Chuunin

4: Jounin

5: Sannin/Kage

6: god level (Kyuubi)

**Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto**

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 2.0

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Kinjutsu: 4.5

Fuinjutsu: 2.5

Weapons: 2.5

Stamina: 5.5

Speed: 4.0

Chakra Control: 3.0

Bloodline: 0.0

_**Overall: 3.1 (Rookie Chuunin level)**_

**Tayuya**

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 4.5

Ninjutsu: 3.0

Kinjutsu: 3.0

Fuinjutsu: 0.5

Weapons: 3.5

Stamina: 3.5

Speed: 3.5

Chakra Control: 4.5

Bloodline: 0.0

_**Overall: 2.95 (Veteran Genin/Rookie Chuunin level)**_

**Kyuubi Naruto (No tails)**

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 4.0

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Kinjutsu: 4.5

Fuinjutsu 2.5

Weapons: 3.5

Stamina: 6

Speed: 5.0

Chakra Control 3.0

Bloodline: 2.5

_**Overall: 3.8 (Veteran Chuunin/Rookie Jounin level)**_

Every time something happens that dramatically increases the power levels of Tayuya or Naruto in the story, I'll do another one of these. I find them fun.

Anyway, if you have any questions or concerns about how I ranked their skills, ask them and I'll answer when I get the next chapter out.

Be ready for the start of the Iwa mission next time...I'm sure you'll find what I have planned to your liking.

Till next time.

* * *

_Namikaze Minato's: Fuinjutsu for Idiots_

Four types (Containment, Support, Storage, and Action).

# of points on a seal the power of it. (3 is a triangle, 4 is a square, 5 is a pentagon, etc...)

No even point seals with odd point seals, it's liable to blow you up.

Support seals must be put on binding circles around the main seal. (Just what the name says it is, a circle you place Support seals on that surrounds the main seal you're using)

Support seals cannot have more than three points each.

Coordinating seals is a general term for doing things like using a binding circle when appropriate, no overlapping seals, and figuring out how to combine two kanji for a desired effect.


	12. Chapter 12

_Previously_

Sure enough, even as the man was twisting his head towards the blond, a razor sharp burst of wind pierced him straight through the chest.

In seconds, the man lay on the ground, completely unmoving.

Both Naruto and Tayuya breathed a sigh of relief, now they just had to worry about fighting their way through hordes of bandits...

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 11**

Shaded eyes watched in complete silence as groups of men meandered around the tents, most all of them holding alcohol of some sorts, while laughing loudly at the stupidest of things. There were men stuffing their faces in the soft glow of the fire light, some men taunting the large amount of female prisoners they had captured over time, and some were merely passed out on the ground, completely ignored by their comrades.

All in all, the bandits were easy targets for Aburame Shino, heir of the Aburame clan.

The dark haired nin nodded, seemingly at random, and watched as the singing and laughing of the men before him took a sharp turn to screams of pain and terror.

Being eaten alive by carnivorous bugs inside your body wasn't what one would call a pleasant experience, Shino assumed.

It took only moments before every bandit within a fifty yard radius lay dead on the ground.

Silence reigned over the once overwhelmingly loud atmosphere.

The Aburame calmly observed the carnage, readying himself for the imminent chakra drain his returning bugs would cause him.

Shino let out a deep breath as the last bug took its fill of his chakra, walking over to the area where the captive women were being held, intent on returning their freedom before curious bandits found their comrades massacred.

* * *

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, securing the medical wrap he'd covered Tayuya's back wound with, as his embarrassment began to die away.

His red headed partner had taken care of the wound on her thigh easily enough, but the one inflicted on her back was unreachable to her. So Naruto, obviously, had to wrap the cloth around her stomach and lower back to prevent any further injury.

That alone didn't bother the blond in the slightest.

The fact that Tayuya had to take her shirt off for him to get to the wound made him slightly nervous.

They'd both seen each other in various states of undress over the years, accidents would always happen, but never before had skin come in contact with skin during those periods of time.

At least Tayuya seemed more comfortable, calm even, after having him bandage her wound, if the small smile and light blush on her face was any indicator.

The injury must have been pretty uncomfortable, Naruto figured.

The blond sighed, shaking his head clear of his thoughts.

"We should head towards Kakashi and the others, it's probably nearing midnight."

He waited until he saw her nod and turned towards the entrance of the tent, Tayuya following behind him.

They weren't far from where their other teammates were progressing through the bandits, Naruto figured. Only ten seconds worth of sprint time, and the bandits in between wouldn't be too much of a challenge.

The blond sighed before taking off towards Kakashi, ready to eliminate any bandit that stood in his way with Tayuya at his side.

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage sat behind his desk, papers and scrolls of all sorts scattered across the wood in front of him.

The man was currently making the final adjustments to Naruto and Tayuya's cover story as to why they would need to reside in Iwa and how they would make a living for a few months, at least until the chuunin exams. He'd already acquired fake identities for the two of them, gotten the paper work to go along with it, and found a place for them to stay that matched their story.

Sarutobi allowed himself a small smile, signing the last piece of paper work to finalize all the two genin could possibly need on their mission to Iwa. Now, he could only that Naruto and Tayuya would be able to make the rest fall into place.

* * *

Hundreds of miles away, in a natural hot springs that Kakashi had suggested they rest in, a certain blond sneezed, causing the towel on his head to fall into the steaming water he was currently resting in.

He sighed under his breath, grumbling as he raised himself from the water to get a new one while his mind wandered.

After the first bandit camp had been taken care of, the rest of them fell without much resistance. It appeared the original camp the Konoha nin had eliminated had been a headquarters of sorts for all nearby bandit activity.

Without their leadership, the camps became frighteningly easy to dispose of.

Naruto smirked to himself, allowing a feeling of accomplishment to wash over him as he grabbed another towel and started back towards the water.

His content mindset was abruptly stopped though, when the blond heard an all too familiar giggle from somewhere near the divider.

He sighed again, this time in resignation.

Admittedly, he did have a few questions for the white haired pervert, but that didn't make trying to communicate with the man any less annoying.

Nonetheless, Naruto found himself walking towards the giggling moments later, his curiosity growing with every step he took.

"Oi. Jiraiya."

Said pervert did a double take, well hidden surprise on his features.

"Didn't expect to see you so soon again, kid." He closed his eyes for a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose in thought. "Ah! Right. The book. Have you read that book at all gaki?"

Naruto snorted to himself, slightly offended by the pervert's attitude, but ended up ignoring it anyway. "Actually, I've got a question about it."

Jiraiya had gone back to looking through the divider, a dazed look present in his eye.

He responded distractedly. "Yeah, whatever kid..."

"Why'd you give it to me." Came the blond's voice, noticeably strained in effort to ignore the pervert's actions.

When Jiraiya stayed silent for several moments, Naruto first thought he'd been ignored. Upon observing the man more closely though, he saw that the pervert was merely collecting his thoughts.

The man sighed under his breath and turned to the blond.

"You weren't supposed to be told this until you were a little older, it's delicate information kid...you gotta understand that." Naruto nodded with a confused look on his face. "That means no telling anyone kid, except maybe that red head you've been staring at lately..."

Jiraiya grinned, happy that he'd managed to make the kid blush.

"That said, Namikaze Minato was your father." The old man's grin stayed strong as he watched the blond process what had just been said. At first he didn't even realize what it meant, still annoyed at being embarrassed, but soon his eyes widened and his mouth hung limp.

Naruto moved his mouth up and down several times, attempting to form a coherent thought, before he eventually shook his head wildly to focus.

"The fourth...?" He whispered with a mixture of quiet awe and confusion on his face. "Really?"

Jiraiya nodded distractedly, having gone back to his oh-so-precious research.

"Wow..." Naruto murmured under his breath. His father was legendary for numerous deeds that an average shinobi would have thought impossible. A fuinjutsu master. Creator of the Rasengan and Hirashin.

His father had also sealed the Kyuubi into him though, the blond realized.

He contemplated that fact for several moments and found that he didn't bear as big a grudge as he might have originally thought. His life had never been easy, but having Tayuya in it had made everything so much easier to deal with...

Naruto sighed and looked back towards Jiraiya, who was still peeking through the tiny hole in the wall.

He blinked. Speaking of Tayuya...

"Oi! Pervert." He hissed out in a whisper. "If you're peeking on Tayuya right now, there'll be hell to pay!"

The white haired man shrugged him off. "I don't know which one is your little girlfriend and I don't care, right now there's a red head wrestling down a blond that insulted her..." The man paused, a grin stretching across his face and a trail of blood appearing from under his nose. "So leave me alone kid, I got work to do." He finished in a giddy whisper.

Naruto's face took on a red tint, whether it was from anger or embarrassment at a obvious implication was unknown.

"Bullshit!"

The pervert ignored him, keeping his eyes glued on the small hole.

Naruto growled under his breath, his mind was a whirlwind of feelings due to the last few minutes of conversation and he was rapidly nearing his breaking point.

He moved forward and pushed the man out of the way, murmuring furiously how it wasn't true under his breath all the while. The blond brought his face up to the hole Jiraiya had been using and squinted through the divider.

He felt his face burn a deep shade of red and his eyes widen in disbelief of what he was seeing.

Well, the pervert hadn't lied when he had alluded to Tayuya being in the springs.

Naruto couldn't help but watch in a trance of sorts as his female partner lifted herself from the steaming water, water that was currently streaking down every part of her body imaginable, and turned towards him.

She was completely naked.

Of course, Naruto realized that fact when he'd seen her bare back...her bare _wet _back...rise from the water, but only when he saw her turn did his brain finally process what that meant.

"_I really shouldn't..." _

His eyes took in more of her body, the protesting thoughts fading into nothingness all the while. It was as if his sight was literally glued to her naked form. She was still growing, but even he could see the subtle curves that defined her as a woman.

That was proven by the slight sway to her hips as she walked away from the water to get her towel, Naruto noticed.

The blond blinked several times as Tayuya started to wrap the towel around herself, concealing the moist skin that he suddenly found himself itching to touch, and gathered the presence of mind to pull away from the divider.

He sat with his back against the thin barrier, fully aware his face was hotter than the water of the springs and redder Tayuya's hair, before he realized Jiraiya had disappeared.

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes. The fact that he knew who his father was came back to him, along with several images of his very naked, very wet partner.

He shook his head furiously.

Had it been any other time, when he hadn't just gotten a heritage bombshell dropped on his head, he probably would've spent several minutes simply replaying what he'd just seen in his mind.

But as Tayuya might put it, his mind was a clusterfuck of thoughts.

Naruto sighed, a small grin forming on the edge of his lips against his will, as he threw on a towel and headed towards the room he was staying in for the night.

* * *

It had been nearly three days since they left the hot springs and a certain red haired kunoichi was becoming increasingly annoyed at her partner's odd behavior.

He'd suddenly become extremely nervous around her ever since their stop at the hot springs, ensuring several awkward moments and silences between the two.

Tayuya had no idea what could have caused the change, though she did notice him blushing more often around her. The idea he had any feelings or thoughts about her beyond normal friendship had passed through her mind a few times, but she'd ended up deciding that he'd probably just done something that would make her mad.

He was always nervous when he did something that got her angry, whether she knew what it was or not.

Tayuya shook her head clear of her thoughts, refocusing on the tree she was currently practicing throwing her daggers at.

The sun was starting to disappear over the horizon and night was beginning to set in over Fire Country's lush forests. The six ninja would reach Konoha tomorrow, ending the mission two days under the time limit they'd been given.

Tayuya held her dagger by its blade between her two fingers, settling into a balanced stance to throw in. She focused on the target and let out a breath before whipping the knife towards it.

Dead center.

The red head grinned. She'd been getting better at throwing them lately, the only problem was it took her too long to prepare.

She refocused on the target and settled back into her stance to repeat the process with her other knife just as a slight breeze swept over the clearing.

The second projectile ended up veering to the left of the tree though, and into dense forest behind it.

Tayuya groaned in annoyance, already jogging after her lost weapon. She pulled the first dagger out of the tree as she ran by it and secured it on her shoulder.

The girl started off into the forest and had run thirty meters or so before finally seeing her blade sticking awkwardly out of a tree branch about ten feet of the ground. She wasted no time in jumping up to it and pulling her dagger free, placing it with its twin over her shoulder.

Tayuya turned to jump off the tree and head back towards camp, but a splashing sound made her turn to look deeper in the forest.

She immediately spotted a figure in the stream.

The red head grabbed one of her daggers and completely hid her chakra presence before creeping forward through the trees. She was about twenty meters from her target when a breeze blew through the forest, allowing the full moon that had just started its journey through the sky to illuminate the sight before her.

Tayuya fought down a gasp.

It was Naruto.

It wasn't just any Naruto though, the red head thought, it was a naked Naruto washing himself in the stream.

Tayuya watched in silence as illuminated water droplets ran down the beginnings of well formed muscle on her partner's body. His broad shoulders flexing was easily visible in the moonlight.

She unconsciously licked her lips, leaning forward to the point where she almost lost her balance to better look at her partner.

The blond was currently heading towards the opposite shore line, obviously looking for something to dry himself with so he could get back to camp.

A twig snapped in the distance.

The sudden noise served to startle Tayuya out of her daze while her blond partner abruptly whipped around, searching for any potential danger.

The red head felt her face turn as red as her hair.

Naruto had turned towards her in his search...

She shook her head furiously and started to dash back towards the camp, her mind far too tired to deal with something like this.

Minutes later, a fully dressed and dried Naruto followed in her path.

It was only moments after the blond left that a grinning Jiraiya stepped out from his hiding spot, coincidentally located exactly where the sound of a twig snapping had been heard.

Those two were a better source of inspiration than any amount of research he could ever do.

* * *

The rest of the return trip to Konoha passed without incident, though the awkwardness between Naruto and Tayuya was now mutual. Nonetheless, Kakashi's altered team returned with two full days left on their initial time limit.

The white haired jounin was absentmindedly reading his favorite book as he lead the five genin to the Hokage tower. He took a moment away from his reading, best to take things in moderation after all, and decided to observe more of the drama that had become Naruto and Tayuya's relationship as of late.

The two genin were really nothing more than an enigma to the general public of Konoha. They were only seen sparingly throughout their academy years, and if one actually managed to find the pair, they would usually receive silence in response to any questions and/or threats.

Nobody really knew anything about the pair, other than the basic information that public records contained.

Now that he'd spent some time with them though, Kakashi found that there was far more than meets the eye when it came to Naruto and Tayuya.

For one, they'd made a rather large impact his team.

The white haired jounin had never seen Sasuke as determined as he was now, as though seeing Naruto and Tayuya effortlessly cut down bandit after bandit in a highly coordinated attack had made him feel weak. The young Uchiha had been training relentlessly ever since that fight at the first bandit camp.

Hinata's confidence had improved in leaps and bounds in the presence of the blond and the red head. She had never been a normal Hyuuga, always soft spoken and quick to avoid conflict if it was possible. The girl could fight well if it was needed, but her differing attitude on ninja life gained her the anger of the proud Hyuuga clan, resulting in a slight lack of confidence.

Aburame Shino was the student that surprised Kakashi the most though. In the past, he would never say anything or interact with any of the team members unless it was absolutely needed, and even then it was usually only a nod. Since he'd been around Naruto and Tayuya, the Aburame would offer his thoughts and advise on matters without being asked. Those opinions usually offered good insight too.

The jounin sighed, absently wondering why he had agreed to take on a genin team and the stress that came with it. He didn't even understand half the things that went through their young minds...

His thoughts were cut short though, as the sounds of bickering reached his ears.

"-mnit Forehead! He went this way and you know it!"

"I saw him go that way Ino-pig! Just accept that I'm right so we can get this stupid mission over with!"

"Fine. You think you're so smart, we'll split up and see who gets him first. Just don't except any sympathy from me when you lose Forehead!"

A new voice was heard next, though it was every bit as loud and obnoxious as the first two, the only difference being that it was a male's voice.

"I can't believe I got stuck with you two idiots! You spend more time fighting than you do focusing on the mission!"

"Shut up dog boy! The less time I spend near your stench the better, I-" It was then that Ino caught sight of Kakashi and the genin following him.

The blond Yamanaka looked like she was about yell at the top of her lungs, but caught herself and blinked several times before turning back to her fellow classmates.

The girl sighed. "Come on, let's just find the stupid cat and put this horror of a mission behind us."

With that, the three academy students left five slightly surprised genin and an amused jounin.

* * *

"Very good Kakashi, you and your team have preformed flawlessly. I will contact you when I have another mission available."

The white haired jounin nodded and gave the Sandaime one of his eye smiles before leading his three genin out of the room. Once the door had shut, the elderly Hokage turned towards Naruto and Tayuya.

"Well, I'm pleased to announce that all preparations have been finalized for your stay in Iwa. The two of you will act as a newly married couple looking to start your own lives away from your family. I've secured you a small shop that has an apartment over it, you are to sell seals of all kinds for ninja use there. Naruto, I assume you'll be able to cover the inventory."

The man paused to take in a breath. "I've got your complete cover story right here, and anything you might need for your mission can be found in this." He handed the pair a few pieces of paper and an envelope.

Naruto held the information out in front of him, flushing slightly as he felt Tayuya's breath on his neck while she read over his shoulder.

They were to stay in Iwa for three months, living over the store as a newly married couple that moved away from their parents, just as Sarutobi had told them. They would return in time to participate in the chuunin exams too.

The blond raised an eyebrow at the Hokage, who had been watching in amusement as their faces grew steadily more red.

"You want to see your rings?" He asked with a straight face, though his eyes were dancing in amusement.

Naruto sighed and sat down heavily in a nearby chair. "So you want us to go to Iwa as a newly married couple trying to pave their own way. We have a shop to run while were there to keep up appearances and we live above said shop. Anything I'm missing?"

Sarutobi nodded. "Obviously, I don't have to stress the significance of keeping the fact that you are from Konoha hidden. If Iwa were to find out about this, it would give them a reason to attack us, a reason that they've been itching to find." He took in a breath. "While you are there, I also want you to find out more about their rapidly growing ninja ranks as well as any other information you might happen upon."

The man took a moment to meet both their eyes. "Those are the basics. Any specific questions you might have may be answered by the information on those papers. Once you know all that you must do, burn them."

The Sandaime Hokage watched as the blond genin before him subtly looked towards his partner, only to find her doing the same. They both flushed red and turned away from each.

He smiled. The two genin before him were completely transparent, and yet neither of them knew it.

The elderly man cleared his throat. "You will leave in four days time at daybreak, anything you might need to know can be found in or on the items I have just given you. You are dismissed."

* * *

It was only minutes later that Naruto threw himself down on the couch in the apartment he shared with Tayuya, his mind still somewhat overwhelmed. He'd had a decent amount of time to think over the fact that the Fourth Hokage was his father on the way back to Konoha and had come to a few conclusions.

For one, he wasn't mad at Namikaze Minato for doing what he had to do. It was a decision expected of a Hokage, and a decision that could be understood of a father.

He had also decided to follow in the footsteps of the Fourth and become a Fuinjutsu master. It would undoubtedly take years of his life, but Naruto felt it was worth it.

The final decision he'd settled on was that he would tell absolutely no one but Tayuya until he felt he was strong enough to handle all the enemies his father had made.

Naruto felt a small smile tug at his lips as he sighed in content. He'd gone through one of his two major problems and felt satisfied with the results. That only left a slightly more embarrassing issue. Tayuya and his feelings for her.

The blond knew many things. He knew that he valued Tayuya above anyone else he'd meant in his life. He knew that he could trust her with his life and feel completely confident that she wouldn't let him down. He knew that she was beautiful in her own way, and wasn't afraid to admit it...as long as it wasn't to her face.

He wasn't quite ready for that yet.

Naruto also knew that the awkwardness that had been he and Tayuya's communication as of late was utterly unbearable. It frustrated him more than he thought possible.

He sat up and scanned the room for his partner, quickly finding her sitting at their kitchen table, her head resting in her hands.

"So, I found out who my father was."

The red head looked up at him, a questioning look on her face.

"Apparently Jiraiya of the Sannin was his teacher."

Tayuya arched her eyebrows. "Well? Spit it out blondie. Shit!"

Naruto smirked. "Namikaze Minato. The Fourth Hokage himself was my father."

She stayed silent for a moment, her mouth wide open, before speaking in an awed whisper.

"Wow..."

She couldn't think of anything else to say, the answer had caught he completely flat footed.

"Yeah...the pervert told me in the hot springs we visited on the way back, when I found him peeping through the divider."

Her eyes hardened in annoyance, urging him to continue in an unspoken way only Tayuya could manage to communicate to him.

The blond took in a deep breath, ready to try just about anything to get rid of the unwanted change in their relationship.

"He sorta tricked me into looking through the divider by-uh...well, he tricked me, anyway." He swallowed. "I kinda...sorta...saw-"

"You saw me naked didn't you."

Naruto blinked several times, well aware his face was currently matching the shade of red that was present on Tayuya's.

"Uh...yeah."

He'd been prepared for several reactions out of his partner, anger being expected the most, but what Naruto never expected her to do, was laugh.

The red head had started giggling and chuckling under her breath before it grew louder and more hysterical. She fell to the floor, curled into a ball while holding her sides.

Eventually her laughter died down to a manageable level and she was able to sit up on the floor to face her partner.

The red head demeanor changed as she hesitated slightly, attempting to word her next sentence, before shaking her head in frustration and simply blurting out her words in a rush.

"I saw you while you were washing yourself in the stream."

The flush on their faces returned, along with a contemplative silence.

Both of them knew exactly what they wanted at that point, but neither seemed to want to make the first move. Instead, they sat staring at each other until the silence had stretched on for so long that it became unbearable.

Naruto climbed to his feet first and started walking over to where Tayuya sat on the floor, he'd given up on trying to sort through his thoughts at this point.

He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he was sure his partner felt the same way.

The blond reached Tayuya just as she finished getting to her own feet.

He wasted no time in gently placing his hand on her chin and guiding her lips to his in a soft kiss.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, there you have it. Thus begins the addition of fully fledged romance to the story...and I didn't even originally plan for it to happen in this chapter.

My brain seems to be completely uncooperative at the moment, so I'm unable to remember just about everything I was going to mention here...

Though I did get a question as to how I developed my system of seals.

It started from reading too many stories that have Naruto learn them, and then simply describe them as "an intricate series of hand seals and drawings on the ground". I wanted to put an explanation behind the drawings, so I made up own system of sorts. It is by no means perfect, I know I'll probably have to tweak it throughout the length of this fic, but I'm pretty satisfied with it for now.

I do have a request of sorts for any of you who would take the time to review though. My strength is not romance when it comes to writing, so I'd like to hear your opinions of how I brought about the actually relationship between Naruto and Tayuya. Hopefully, I'll be able to improve upon it to make the rest of the story a better read.

That said, I'll see you next chapter.

* * *

_Namikaze Minato's: Fuinjutsu for Idiots_

Four types (Containment, Support, Storage, and Action).

# of points on a seal the power of it. (3 is a triangle, 4 is a square, 5 is a pentagon, etc...)

No even point seals with odd point seals, it's liable to blow you up.

Support seals must be put on binding circles around the main seal. (Just what the name says it is, a circle you place Support seals on that surrounds the main seal you're using)

Support seals cannot have more than three points each.

Coordinating seals is a general term for doing things like using a binding circle when appropriate, no overlapping seals, and figuring out how to combine two kanji for a desired effect.


	13. Chapter 13

_Previously_

Naruto climbed to his feet first and started walking over to where Tayuya sat on the floor, he'd given up on trying to sort through his thoughts at this point.

He knew exactly what he wanted to do and he was sure his partner felt the same way.

The blond reached Tayuya just as she finished getting to her own feet.

He wasted no time in gently placing his hand on her chin and guiding her lips to his in a soft kiss.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 12**

Naruto and Tayuya stood together at the western gate, fingers entwined, idly watching the sun rise to greet a slowly awakening Konohagakure.

It had been two days since they'd returned from their previous mission, two days of time they spent discovering their new found relationship and preparing for what was to be their longest mission to date.

In mere minutes they would be on their way to Iwa.

"Naruto, Tayuya!"

The pair turned to find Sarutobi and Jiraiya walking towards them at a leisurely pace, completely ignoring the stares of respect and awe that the early risers of the village gave them.

Well, most of them were ignored...Jiraiya seemed more than willing to stare back at some of the females.

Naruto and Tayuya started towards the older nin, closing the distance between them quickly.

Once he had reached the two genin, Sarutobi looked toward Jiraiya and nodded.

The white haired sannin wasted no time in pulling a prepared seal off his person and slamming it down on the ground.

A blue dome appeared around the ninja for a short moment, before disappearing.

"A privacy barrier of sorts, one of Minato's more brilliant works. It blocks all sound from escaping by sealing us in an air tight dome; obviously that means we only have a set amount of time before we suffocate, so let's continue eh?"

The Sandaime Hokage nodded again, looking back towards Naruto and Tayuya before he began speaking.

"Firstly, I wanted to wish you two good luck in person before you set off. This is a lot of responsibility that I'm placing on your shoulders, I appreciate how you're dealing with it so well."

The man took a moment to swallow and collect his thoughts.

"The second and final thing I wanted to speak with you about is something I forgot to tell you back when I first went over the mission details. Iwa is very different from Konoha when it comes to equality amongst its inhabitants. The male population is seen as superior to the female population, and as such, they enjoy rights and privileges that women do not."

He focused on Tayuya. "I wanted to warn you of this before you left. You will face hardships in Iwa, just as you have in Konoha, but of a different kind." His eyes drifted down to their joined hands as a smile tugged at his lips. "Though I'm sure Naruto will be able to offer his support in a variety of different ways."

They gave him an exasperated look, but the blond's grip tightened around Tayuya's hand nonetheless.

Sarutobi sighed. "Iwa will undoubtedly be full of surprises and challenges, I wish you both luck."

With that he nodded to his student, who took down the sphere, and started walking back towards his tower.

Jiraiya lingered to speak with the two of them. "Look kids, I had my sources in Iwa put together a detailed map of the city. It doesn't have any signatures or symbols of any kind on it, but be careful with it nonetheless."

The white haired pervert handed Naruto a rolled up scroll and turned to follow the Sandaime.

The pair stood in silence for a moment, watching the retreating backs of the two elder men, before Tayuya spoke up.

"Well, off to Iwa then eh? Any break from these Konoha fuckers is welcomed, no matter what "hardships" and shit I have to face."

Naruto only smiled in amusement.

* * *

Drowsy blue eyes slowly opened under the early morning haze of Fire Country's great forest. The trees were coated in a fresh layer of dew, increasing the smell of the woods for the sensitive nose of the eyes' owner.

Naruto sighed and blinked several times to clear his vision while his body started its task of fully waking for another day.

The boy shifted slightly under Tayuya's comfortable weight, trying to convince himself that moving from his relaxed position was actually worth it. Eventually, reason won over desire in his mind.

The blond moved his free arm, the one that wasn't currently being used as a pillow, and shook the red head's shoulder.

"Tayuya," he whispered half-heartedly.

He received no response, and seriously considered forgetting about any responsibilities he and Tayuya had weighing on their shoulders in favor of drifting back to sleep's comforting embrace with his girlfriend.

The boy cursed under his breath. He'd been becoming increasingly unwilling to get up in the morning when he slept with Tayuya, she seemed to make sleeping almost addicting.

He shook his head and tried waking his partner again, this time putting more effort into it.

"Tayuya!"

The tangled mass of red on his shoulder jumped slightly and sucked in a breath, beginning to stir from her rest. She was clearly still half asleep though, if the way her head shifted around for a moment before settling back down again, content to ignore the world for as long as possible, was anything to go by.

Naruto felt a smile tug at his lips. Both of them had gotten a decent amount of sleep last night, apparently Tayuya's presence affected his sleeping habits as much as his did hers.

All good things come to an end though, so with a resigned sigh, the blond sat up.

The girl in his arms murmured groggily in annoyance under her breath whilst shifting around in his lap, still absentmindedly trying to find a comfortable position.

Naruto poked her side, a smirk on his face, in an effort to wake her up. He knew he succeeded when she flinched away from his finger, eyes blinking rapidly.

"Come on, we gotta get moving."

"Yeah yeah...just a second...damn"

With that, she slowly worked her way to a standing position on the branch the pair had slept on. She grabbed a brush from her bag to attempt to sort out the mess of red that was her hair and jumped down to a nearby stream to wake herself up.

Naruto stayed seated on the branch, his body and mind already fully awake, and looked out to the land northwest of his position.

The trees of Fire Country's forest were thinning, giving way to vast plains of grass that stood well over five feet in length. There was an occasional patch of trees amongst the swaying greenery, but for the most part Grass Country exemplified its name completely.

The blond sighed deeply and lifted himself into a standing position. He and Tayuya would have to make it through Grass Country in order to get to Iwa, ideally, they would get through it unnoticed.

Naruto shook his head to clear it of thoughts, deciding it was still far too early to be thinking about anything complicated, and jumped down to the forest floor to find his partner.

He found her only a few yards from the base of the tree, splashing water on her face in an attempt to wake herself up.

"'Morning," he greeted.

A grunt was his only reply.

The blond grinned. "Lovely morning to be awake eh?"

"Fuck you."

He laughed to himself. "Your wit astounds me."

Tayuya opted to ignore her partner at that point, instead focusing her energy on getting herself somewhat functional.

Naruto sighed, adopting a more serious demeanor. "Grass might cause some trouble for us. From what I've heard, they're real secluded and wary of any and all travelers. We can either take the road and risk being found out when they check our papers, or try and navigate through the grass while avoid being noticed."

"Well," Tayuya said as she stood from her spot at the stream, "the grass'll be a bitch to find our way through and we'll make too much noise moving through all that shit anyway. Any experienced ninja would find us out immediately, and if we're found trying to sneak through the Grass, they'd be even more suspicious of us than they would if we just took the road."

"The road then?"

She snorted. "No...of course not, let's just fly the rest of the way to Iwa, ok?"

* * *

The sun, still managing to create searing hot temperatures despite the approaching fall season, was directly overheard before Naruto and Tayuya saw Kusagakure come into view over the horizon. They'd been walking for nearly six hours on the road, surrounded on both sides by unending fields of tall grass and seeing only the occasional trader on the way.

Naruto had been engrossed with his explosive seals again, fiddling with random changes to the main kanji and seeing what they did. So far he'd managed to nearly set the entire grass field on fire, oblierate a traveling civilian's head, and burn himself to a crisp.

Watching him was the only thing that kept Tayuya from going insane due to her boredom.

The red head sighed and shook her head clear of her thoughts, focusing back on the approaching wall that signified Kusagakure's boundaries.

It was no where near as large or tall as Konoha's walls, only about half the size, but it was much more fortified. The walls of Konoha were made of chakra infused stone, causing any attempt to stick to it with chakra to fail, but that also made the stone weaker and easier to break down. It had its strengths and its weaknesses, but it was a well made wall overall.

Kusagakure obviously felt they needed to protect themselves far more efficiently than Konoha did. Their walls were built with stone, but they were covered in a layer of iron, providing a much more solid structure. Sharp spikes that angled downwards littered the surface of it, to the point where even the idea of counting all of them made Tayuya's head hurt. At the top of the wall, the Grass nin had placed a barrier of barbed wire, forcing any invaders that actually made it through the iron spike death trap to slow down enough so they could avoid getting tangled in the razor sharp wire.

The red head swallowed, staring at the intimidating wall as she walked alongside Naruto.

Said blond happened to choose that moment to interrupt her thoughts.

"Tayuya," he said under his breath as he rummaged through his ninja pouch, "we've gotta put on our rings before we get too close to them."

She nodded as he found the two simple gold bands they'd been given for their cover identities.

Naruto handed the smaller of the two to her and placed his own on his left ring finger.

Tayuya repeated his actions on her own hand and looked up just in time to see one of Kusagakure's gates appear in the distance.

They reached the guards on duty only a few short moments later.

"Names." One of them grunted out.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uzumaki Tayuya," the blond responded.

"Reasons for traveling," came the next grunt.

"Just passing through on our way to Iwa."

The Kusa nin nodded.

"You will be escorted through by one of our ninja, any attempt to flee from that nin will end in death. You've been warned."

Naruto nodded, silently thanking the fact that he wasn't just a normal civilian, the threat would have scared him otherwise. He focused his attention on the Grass nin again, finding that he had walked back over to his desk and pressed a small black button on it.

The man turned back towards them. "Your escort will be here momentarily."

* * *

It was only after he and Tayuya had put several miles between themselves and the city gates that Naruto relaxed. That place had practically radiated with feelings of wariness and every single villager stared at them until they were past the wall. It wasn't as if he was unused to such actions, but the fact that they came from a village he'd never even been to was enough to make Naruto feel uneasy.

The blond sighed and reached out for Tayuya's hand, softly interlacing their fingers as Grass Country's boundaries drew closer. At this rate they'd be in Earth Country within four hours, and only about a day or two away from the capital.

He felt Tayuya tug on his hand in an effort to draw him closer to her. Naruto felt a small smile appear on his lips for what he thought was no reason at all as he moved his arm to rest on her shoulders, while hers' settling around his waist.

From their new position, the blond could feel his partner shiver every so often. He pulled her in closer as his mind realized why she tugged on his hand in the first place, it was starting to get cold out, after all.

The fact that they were heading north and in clothing fit for late summer in Konoha probably wasn't helping either. They'd have to get something else to wear in Iwa for the winter months, the blond idly noted.

His thoughts trailed off after that, his focus turning towards the feelings of contentment he was experiencing from his position with red head next to him.

The end of his lips quirked up and, before he really realized what he was doing, he leaned down to press a kiss against the corner of Tayuya's mouth.

He pulled back with a puzzled look on his face, but his confusion over why he'd done it faded just a few short moments later.

Because, he decided, seeing her smile softly like that was worth whatever he'd have to do to make it happen.

* * *

Earth Country, Tayuya found, was many things.

For one, it was nearly the exact opposite of the barren desert wasteland with a few mountains ranges in the distance that she'd been expecting.

From her position on an elevated portion of land at the edge of the border, she could see that it was indeed a rocky terrain, but not to the extent she would've thought.

The land was covered in patches of forest and grass for as far as she could see, intermixed with rocky and uneven ground every so often. It was as if someone had combined three different types of terrain and come up with this.

The red head did notice, however, that any portion of the land containing grass and forestry seemed to diminish as her eyes went deeper into Iwa territory. The greenery was probably there due to the fact that Earth Country shared a border with Grass.

Tayuya turned her attention away from observing the land, instead focusing on a certain blond she found irresistible yet aggravating at the same time.

He was looking over his explosive seal again, fiddling around with minor altercations to the main kanji without any real idea what he was doing. The blond had thus far managed to make the explosions bigger by incorporating a sliver of the Kyuubi's chakra and even a detonation seal that reacted to his chakra only, while the main detonation seal that anyone could use was unharmed.

Tayuya didn't how he did it, though she suspected he didn't either, but she was impressed.

Not that she'd actually told him that.

The red head turned her head towards the slowly disappearing sun, then back towards the tent and campfire that Naruto's clones had set up only moments earlier.

She nodded to herself, they'd arrive in Iwa sometime in the afternoon tomorrow, and she wanted to be rested and fully prepared for the inevitable stress the mission would bring.

So, she decided, it was time to stop thinking and drag her favorite pillow to bed with her.

"Oi! Blondie! Quit gawking over the seal and get your ass in the tent. I want my damned pillow to sleep on."

Naruto looked up at her with an incredulous look, amusement clearly written on his face.

Tayuya managed to keep herself from smirking long enough to demand, "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

Silence fell over the pair.

It was nearly thirty seconds of silence later, during which Tayuya had been giving Naruto a smoldering glare that he deftly ignored while toying with his seal, when the red head decided to speak again.

"You're not moving."

"I'm not moving," he agreed.

Tayuya scowled, she was clearly going to have to be more inventive.

* * *

Naruto blinked several times in an attempt to get his vision to focus in the darkness of night while his drowsy mind was busy trying to figure out what woke him at such an odd hour.

He swallowed and briefly closed his eyes to concentrate, enjoying the natural sounds of the forest that the starless night had to offer while he did so.

The blond yawned and opened his eyes again, now coherent enough to realize that it was Tayuya's restless movements that had woken him up. She was tossing and turning against his side with a fearful look covering her features.

Naruto slowly sat up and shook her shoulders in an attempt to wake her. She woke without any difficulty this time, but she was obviously scared. Her eyes darted around the tent for several moments and her breath came in short gasps; she had a light layer of sweat covering her and her hands were now fisted tightly in the blond's undershirt.

He waited until she had calmed down to speak in a low voice. "Want to talk about it?"

Tayuya swallowed and let out a deep sigh. "It's been getting worse ever since we were told about this mission. I can't help it."

"Are you afraid?" Naruto murmured.

She shook her head. "No, not afraid...anxious and nervous maybe, but not afraid. I can't stop thinking about what will happen if we see him and my imagination is out of control with all the possibilities."

"Didn't you say he doesn't live in Iwa?"

The red head nodded. "There's no telling where he is now though."

Naruto snorted quietly. "Quit being so damn negative, I sure as hell don't want to have a girlfriend with the personality of a female Sasuke."

A smile spread across Tayuya's lips despite her mood as the pair fell into silence, content to hold each other before the inevitable need to sleep returned to them.

* * *

It wasn't until the sun was almost directly overhead that Naruto and Tayuya got their first view of Iwagakure.

More specifically, the outside of the mountain that the city was carved into.

They were just hours away from the gates and both of them were relieved that the journey was almost over. Walking as a civilian would is not only slower, but much more boring.

The pair was currently traveling through one of the small forested areas that the road led them through, hands absentmindedly clasped, while checking over their belongings one last time before reaching Iwa.

Naruto, who was carrying the majority of the information essential to their fake identities, had just finished digging through his ninja pouch when the ninja capital of Earth Country came into view.

"Fucking huge," murmured Tayuya.

Her blond partner nodded absentmindedly, concluding that he indeed had everything they'd need to appear as ordinary civilians to Iwa...hopefully.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in annoyance.

This mission was doing a number on not only his nerves, but Tayuya's as well. They'd just decided to sell a variety of pre-made seals in the shop they were supposed to look after as cover, since they were easy to restock and easy to-

Naruto's ears twitched, blue eyes narrowing dangerously.

Barely a split second later, he threw himself down to the ground, faintly noticing that Tayuya had done the same.

A throwing knife, definitely one not of ninja origin, whipped through the space they had previously occupied, only to miss and embed itself in one of the many nearby trees.

Both the blond and the red head turned their heads in the direction of the attack while they quickly regained their footing.

Their unknown enemy didn't waste any time in revealing himself though.

A man that looked to be in his upper twenties strutted out from the shadows of the trees, a wicked yet confident grin on his face.

"Well well, you managed to live long enough to see me, I guess I should congratulate you, eh?" The man's grin, if possible, expanded further.

Naruto shared a brief look with Tayuya, finding that she found the situation amusing as well.

An average bandit was looking to rob a couple of traveling civilians.

Unfortunately for this bandit, his chosen targets were no civilians.

Naruto forced his face to adopt a wary look, he didn't think he could manage scared without bursting out in laughter, and starting speaking without moving his lips.

"You take care of it." He murmured under his breath.

Tayuya gave him the tiniest of nods as a reply, her hand already inching towards where she'd hidden her daggers along her thigh.

The bandit, who had been gloating to himself during the time it took for Naruto and Tayuya to communicate, chose that moment to apparently grow tired of hearing his own voice.

"Alright, I've let you live long enough," his grin returned full force, "get ready t-"

Tayuya had dashed forward at a speed much too fast for the man to react to, and so he found himself dead before he even knew she'd moved, a dagger lodged in his throat.

The red head waited for a moment, then pulled her blade free and let the body fall to the ground. She sighed quietly and started cleaning her dagger while moving back towards her partner.

Said blond had just finished going through the hand seals for a simple katon jutsu to burn the body with, and turned towards Tayuya with a smile present on his face.

"Come on," he started with a tired look to his eyes, "let's just get to Iwa and sleep the rest of the day."

His red headed partner nodded and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his, before the pair set off towards their destination again, never looking back at the scene for the almost-robbery that never happened.

It was unfortunate that neither looked back to make sure any trace of a fight was gone, because if they had, they would've seen the burning remains of the bandit disappear, not into ash, but into nothingness.

They also would have seen a calculating pair of eyes hidden deep within the trees.

* * *

**A/N: **So this chapter's late eh? It's mostly due to the fact that classwork has been getting larger and longer the closer it gets to finals, though during the week of Thanksgiving I couldn't find any time to write at all. Nonetheless, I'll try twice as hard as I normally might to get the next chapter up to meet my self-imposed two week deadline.

Now, for what I consider the easiest part of writing any chapter. Questions.

Naruto's and Tayuya's strength and the way they came to be that strong. They are mostly self-trained, and since they thought so little of the academy, they attending only the minimal amount required to graduate. During the time they didn't go to classes, they trained themselves. And yes, as the reviewer mentioned, they gained their stealth knowledge/capabilities because they needed it to survive.

As for the seal on Naruto's stomach and the differences in the way it is in this fic, I'll be honest and say I didn't look at it before I described it. I went off what I remembered it looking like, which is basically just one big seal in the middle with a lot of smaller lines heading away from it on the outside, kind of like a drawing of a sun. There will also be other differences in my sealing system that I'll use for this fic and the sealing system that the Naruto world uses. This is just one of those unavoidable issues.

I know the whole seeing each other naked thing wasn't needed in the main story, but it is needed for one of my subplots to make sense. You'll fine that a lot of the things I write aren't necessarily needed in the main story, but I include them because I think they make a story better. Instead of just saying Naruto and Tayuya traveled to Iwa, why not describe how they got there and what happened along the way? That kind of thing.

I want to clear up any confusion about the how married couple thing right now. That isn't real, it's part of their cover story and they both know it.

I could've sworn I had a review that said something along the lines of, since Naruto is skilled with kage bunshin and the hand seals required to preform it, he should be extremely adept at Fuinjutsu. I can't find this review now...but if I just missed it somehow, then I'll explain anyway. I think of Fuinjutsu as using a main (written) seal with a kanji defining the action you want the seal to preform, while hand seals used in ninjutsu and genjutsu are just a way to form chakra to get the desired reaction out of the technique. The only similarity I can find between those two, is the fact that they both use chakra. If this actually was a real review and you're still confusing, bring up the issue again somehow and I'd be more than happy to explain it more fully next time.

Anyway, that's all for the most lengthy A/N this story has seen to date. 'Till next time.


	14. Chapter 14

_Previously_

"Come on," he started with a tired look to his eyes, "let's just get to Iwa and sleep the rest of the day."

His red headed partner nodded and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his, before the pair set off towards their destination again, never looking back at the scene for the almost-robbery that never happened.

It was unfortunate that neither looked back to make sure any trace of a fight was gone, because if they had, they would've seen the burning remains of the bandit disappear, not into ash, but into nothingness.

They also would have seen a calculating pair of eyes hidden deep within the trees.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 13**

Two pairs of hands simultaneously flashed through a short chain of hand seals, skillfully twisting and turning through the motions as if it had been practiced several times before. Upon finishing, the two guards then pressed their fingertips to twin elaborate seals present on the natural hardened stone that protected Iwa from any and all dangers.

A massive rumbling sound was heard as the ground started shaking.

Naruto and Tayuya, as they watched a section of the mountain wall around Iwa seemingly sink into the ground, couldn't help but be impressed by Earth Country's ingenuity.

"Welcome to Iwagakure, Uzumaki Naruto," one of the guards drawled out in a bored tone.

Shrugging off the fact that he completely ignored Tayuya, neither of the guards had even acknowledged her presence yet, the blond thanked the man and silently led the way into the city.

The first thing Naruto noticed about his new surroundings was that it was a great deal warmer, most likely due to the mountain walls blocking out most of the late fall winds. The second was the material every single one of the buildings was made of, or rather, carved out of.

Everything was rock, and by the looks of it, ninja made. None of the surfaces inside the walls displayed the jagged, rough properties that the outside mountain had; all of them appeared smooth to the touch, but still retained their box-like appearance.

Overhead, the mountain ended in a volcano-like way, with an opening for some amount of sunlight to stream through.

The ground shook under their feet again, serving to shake both Naruto and Tayuya out of their observational stupor. The former sighed.

"Well, let's figure out where we live then."

With that he started towards the center of town, where he hoped the majority of the marketplace was located.

The pair found it with little problem, its loud atmosphere and bustling crowds stuck out amongst the quiet activities of the rest of the village.

With Naruto in the lead, they headed towards the closest shop, a book store.

Upon entering the building, one of the first things that the blond noticed was the fact that it wasn't the dusty brown atmosphere he'd been expecting. The owner had put up wallpaper and placed tile on the floor, making it look oddly familiar to the numerous shops of Konoha.

"Hello there, can I help you with finding something today?"

Both Naruto and Tayuya turned towards the voice, finding a middle aged man in commoners clothing standing a doorway that looked like it led to the back of the shop.

Naruto nodded and stepped forward. "We were actually looking for some directions, you see, we're new in town and can't find our place of residence." He paused. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this is my wife, Tayuya."

The man's eyes glanced first at the blond's hand, which thankfully had the ring on it, and then flickered over to Tayuya before settling on Naruto once again.

"I'd be happy to help you out." A smile, if a little strained, appeared on the man's face as he approached the pair.

* * *

Unbeknownst to either Naruto or Tayuya, an identical pair of the same calculating eyes they missed in the forest had just opened deep below the surface of Iwagakure. They were a light shade of grey, faded, as if the owner of them was going blind.

Currently, they were focused on a kneeling subordinate a few feet away from them.

"Tsuchikage-sama, what will you have me do?"

The leader of Iwagakure closed his eyes in thought and stayed silent for a moment, contemplating the situation at hand.

Seconds later, his eyes opened and he nodded to himself.

"I'm curious as to how it would perform in this situation. I will give you clearance for its release and leave the planning up to you. Do not fail me."

The kneeling figure nodded, before melting into the earth.

* * *

Naruto allowed the door to the shop he and Tayuya were to run swing open, revealing a decent sized room filled with shelves, a counter stretching across the far end. He could see a small layer of dust that had gathered about the place, but other than that, it appeared to be in good condition.

Satisfied with his brief inspection, he turned back to his partner/wife/girlfriend with a grin on his face.

"Tradition requires me to do something at this point."

Tayuya looked at him warily, one of her eyebrows arched in curiosity.

Naruto, grin still firmly in place, abruptly bent down and scooped her up, one arm supporting her back while the other was hooked up her knees.

The red head went without protest, her face a mixture of amusement, exasperation and happiness, as her boyfriend carried her over the threshold of the store.

Once she was on her feet again she turned to give Naruto an amused smile, her arms crossed snugly under her developing assets. The effect the latter action caused on her chest was not missed by the whiskered teen across from her, who, much to Tayuya's continuously growing amusement, had gone into a silent trance of sorts.

She knew she wasn't exactly drop dead gorgeous, but the fact that she could still have this effect on Naruto pleased her greatly.

The red head grew tired of the silence after a few seconds though, and snapped her fingers in front of the blond's face.

"Having fun?"

He opened and closed his mouth several times, no words escaping, as his face took on a red tint.

Tayuya smiled again, something she'd been doing a lot more lately, and leaned forward to lightly press her lips against his. She pulled back a few seconds later, ignoring the soothing tingling running up and down her spine, and turned towards the store.

"We've got our work cut out for us, eh blondie?"

* * *

A ninja bearing the symbol of Iwa whistled to himself as he patrolled the corridors containing jail cells that held some of the worst criminals in Earth Country's history. From mass murderers and rapists to all sorts of con-artists and thieves of the highest skill, all were held within the confines of this building, located deep inside the mountain that protected Iwagakure from its enemies.

His shift was always the same mundane task, walking up and down the numerous hallways and taunting the occasional criminal that still had enough awareness to actually realize they were being taunted.

The man stopped outside the steel door of prisoner #064, a favorite of his, and opened the eye level slot that was in place to see past the door.

"How ya doing ass hole?" He said, arrogance lacing his words.

The prisoner only glared back at him, just as he always did, while his grip around a stress toy another ninja had thrown at him as a joke tightened.

"Nothing to say? I was hoping for an intelligent conversation too…guess I'll just have to go find a smarter prisoner eh?"

The hand squeezed the toy tighter while the eyes of the graying redheaded prisoner started smoldering in rage.

The ninja outside the door laughed to himself and slammed the cover back over the slot in the door. #064 was one of his favorite prisoners to torment, he always had the best reactions.

The man continued ambling down the hallway, coming close to the end of his shift and patrol.

He passed countless doors and eventually rounded a corner; greeting his sight was the light of the office that led outside. As he came closer though, he heard a rather peculiar conversation taking place.

"-has authorized its use. I have the proper documents here."

The man saw his superior, the ninja assigned to keep track of all that happened in the prison, take the offered paperwork from the Tsuchikage's messenger and look it over. His eyes scoured the writing for a moment, before he nodded and grabbed a key from a hook behind his desk.

"The key to the cell."

The patrolling ninja, who had carefully been eavesdropping on the conversation in the shadows of the hallway, found his mind being overloaded with information.

Everyone knew of that forbidden cell, the one no one was allowed to be near. It had a door just like the rest of the countless cells in the underground facility, but unlike those other doors, this one was littered with seals and drawings of all shapes and sizes.

He was no fuinjutsu user, he barely knew how to do mundane things like storing equipment in them, so he'd never even been able to guess what was behind that door.

A yell from his superior shook him from his thoughts.

"-stop screwin' around and get over here!"

Apparently he needed to work on his stealth.

Nonetheless, he quickly made his way to the office to see what he was needed for.

"Since you've kindly saved me the trouble of having to explain what was just said, why don't you escort our guest to level six."

It wasn't a question, the ninja could figure that out easily.

"I will begin preparation to bring down the defense system, it should be safe by the time you reach the cell."

The man wasn't quite sure what his superior was talking about at that point, so he simply took the key and nodded. He knew he was to lead the way down to level six, the lowest level in the entire prison complex and location of the forbidden cell, so he left the office without another word.

It was a rather lengthy journey, traveling the equivalent of six stories into the earth's crust, especially with the stairways located on opposite sides of each level, but after nearly fifteen minutes of walking, the guard turned one last corner to find a long hallway ahead of him.

He stood quietly for a moment, his eyes warily traveling over every feature in the hallway.

A line of seals on each wall ran from his position to the doorway at the end of the narrow tunnel, all of them draw in what appeared to be blood. The kanji in the countless drawings looked vaguely like they represented the word "contain", but there were so many altercations to the figure that he wasn't quite sure anymore.

Those seals were also the only light source. Their kanji would glow red, coating the hallway in a blood colored hue, for several seconds and then dim back to their original dull state. All of them seemed to be doing this, it gave the otherwise pitch black hallway an eerie effect.

The man slowly started forward, his eyes never focusing on one thing for more than a couple seconds.

As he was walking, he realized just how quiet level six was. Absolutely nothing could be heard, except for the footsteps of the assistant behind him. The seals were completely silent as they went about their task, glowing and fading, and whatever was being held in the cell wasn't making a sound either.

He swallowed nervously and unconsciously quickened his pace. The closer he drew to the cell, the more unnerved he became.

The ninja didn't stop to observe the seals or drawings on the door as he had the ones lining the walls in the hallway. As soon as he came within arms' reach of it, he inserted the key and turned it in a jerky fashion. His skin was covered in goose bumps and the hair on the back of his neck was standing tall.

The grinding and clanking that signaled the cell door unlocking made him jump violently. There was something about the chakra presence, that when combined with the eerie silence and the glowing seals, made him dread what was contained within the cell.

The door slowly started to swing open.

The ninja didn't waste any time in turning around and sprinting towards the stairs, gone before he even got a glimpse of the cell's occupant.

* * *

Tayuya sighed in boredom for what seemed like the fifth time in the past hour. She was stuck watching the shop, which she and Naruto had finished preparing for business on their third day in Iwa, while the blond went off to find them something to eat.

It'd only been two weeks since they arrived, and she was more ready to go back to Konoha.

The Sandaime Hokage hadn't been lying when he said most of Iwa was sexist, even the little kids had taken on the mentality that-

"Hey! Woman!"

She sighed, again, while exasperation clouded her features. After fixing what she thought could pass as a smile on her face, she looked down to find the person who'd interrupted her thoughts.

A young boy that appeared to be twelve or thirteen was standing in front of her, a disgruntled look on his face.

"Where's the guy that usually runs this store?"

Tayuya arched an eyebrow, a lazy look in her eyes. "He's not here at the moment, can I help you with anything?"

"I don't think so, you probably wouldn't be able to answer any of my questions." His tone was one of dismissal and exasperation.

The red head seethed silently to herself, it wouldn't do to injure a customer, no matter how rude the little brat was.

"Try me." She grit out.

The boy, clearly a new ninja, got an amused look on his face.

"Why are these explosive seals different from all the other ones?"

Tayuya smirked, Naruto had explained this very issue to her just yesterday.

The blond had somehow found a way to add in an extra activation seal to set off the explosion while simultaneously strengthening the damage it'd deal. He told her that one was set to recognize the chakra of whoever was carrying it, just as the standard explosive seals did, but the other triggering seal would only react to him.

She hadn't exactly gotten what he meant by that, so he gave her one of the seals he made and told her to stand about ten feet away from him. He'd then gone and made a hand seal, which promptly caused the seal in her hand to catch fire.

She'd panicked and thrown it across the room, then frantically diving under the bed to take cover. It wasn't until Naruto, laughing uproariously, told her it was a dud that she came out.

The blond was still nursing several bruises.

Tayuya smiled to herself, amusement clearly plastered across her face as she thought about-

"Oi! Woman! Answer my question!"

The red head grimaced, she'd forgotten about the obnoxious brat.

"They make 'em stronger, kid."

The boy wasn't pleased with that answer, if the way his face reddened was anything to go by.

"Don't call me a kid you bitch!"

Tayuya's eyes narrowed dangerously, seconds from showing the brat in front of her just how to respect his elders, even if they were only a year or two older.

She was saved from potentially blowing her cover though, when a quiet voice spoke up from somewhere behind the obnoxious brat.

"Maku-san, maybe we should just leave. We're supposed to meet Sensei in six minutes… she wouldn't like it if-"

"I don't care if _she _has to wait a half hour for us, I want my question answered!"

"_Some teammate…" _Tayuya dryly thought as she watched the quiet girl fall silent again, eyes directed at the ground. She looked to be younger than the obnoxious brat and apparently got stuck on a team with him.

The red head started to turn back to berate the kid in front of her, Mako or whatever the hell his name was, when something else about his teammate caught her eye.

The young girl had lines running down each of her arms and legs, solid and black, that ended in circles on her hands and feet. She had a similar line running up the center of her throat and over her chin that ended in an oval-like shape outlining her mouth; there was a circle at the point where the line connected to the oval. Each circle had a kanji of some sort in it, but Tayuya couldn't make out what they said.

Her inspection of the young brunette girl was cut short when her loud mouthed teammate opened his trap again.

"Woman! Don't ignore me, I asked you a question!"

"And I already told you the answer, do I need to say it slower this time?"

Tayuya was pleased to see an angry blush form on the little shit's face, he looked close to completely losing it.

It was at that moment Naruto chose to return from finding lunch.

"Something the matter here?" He managed around the mouthful of whatever the hell he'd brought back. Tayuya grimaced, her previous anger forgotten when she realized he'd gotten ramen, of all things.

Maku immediately turned to the newly arrived blond, pointing an accusatory finger at the red head behind the counter.

"_She _wouldn't tell me the real reason why these seals are different from all the other ones!"

Naruto arched an eyebrow at her, a gesture to which she rolled her eyes in response.

The blond smirked. "They make 'em stronger, kid."

Tayuya fought to keep herself from snickering at the way the kid's mouth was opening and closing, not a sound escaping it. Ramen didn't seem so bad for lunch now.

Eventually the brat snapped his gullet shut and stormed out of the shop, completely ignoring his younger brunette teammate.

Said girl hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and looked up to meet Tayuya's eyes.

"I apologize for his behavior. I think he's still sour about having a female sensei."

Naruto snorted. "Male or female, any teacher willing to teach for the sake of improving their students is worth learning from." He turned towards the now blushing girl, her eyes were focused on the ground again. "Is she a good sensei?"

The girl nodded mutely.

"Then that kid has nothing to be angry about."

"Th-th-" She swallowed and look up to focus her eyes at Naruto's midsection. "Thank you."

The blond abruptly knelt in front of the girl, softly taking her chin in his hand and raising her face up to his. Her eyes widened at first then snapped shut, her entire body seemed to be trembling.

Naruto's brow furrowed in concern. "What's the matter?"

The tiny brunette, about two feet shorter than the blond, shook her head.

"I-I'm sorry for whatever I've d-d-done."

"You haven't done anything wrong." He softly responded, a hint of confusion in his voice. When the girl showed no signs of improving, he tried again. "Look at me."

If anything it just increased the girl's trembling.

"I'm not going to hurt you, you don't have to be afraid."

Slowly, the blond continued coaxing her from her nervous state until she'd opened her vivid green eyes to stare into his blue ones.

Naruto smiled and spoke in nothing more than a whisper. "There, now was that so bad?"

The girl shook her head, a light blush still tinted her cheeks.

"Now, what's your name?"

"A-Ariya."

"My name's Naruto, Ariya. Now, can you tell me why you're so nervous?"

The girl mumbled something under her breath, her eyes starting to drop to the floor again.

Naruto softly guided her gaze upward before she could retreat into herself again, and smiled warmly at her, encouraging her to speak up.

"W-women-" She swallowed. "Females are inferior to m-males."

The blond seethed inwardly, disgusted at what Iwa's society had done to this girl's confidence. He'd felt sympathy for her since he first laid eyes on her when he entered the shop, after all, he used to be in a similar position.

He managed a genuine grin for the brunette's sake and raised himself to his full height. "That's not true! I don't know what I'd do without Tayuya." He swung his hand up to gesture towards said red head while he spoke, not realizing that it was the same hand that held the bag containing the ramen he'd brought back.

Tayuya ducked under the food, leveling Naruto with an amused glare.

The blond smiled sheepishly in return and leaned forward to give her a peck on the cheek. "Sorry love!" He said distractedly, a lopsided grin on his face.

Tayuya remained silent and snatched the bag from his grasp, quickly pulling out a ramen cup and bringing it to her face to hide the soft smile that was developing on her lips. She'd show the blond her opinion of his actions later, after the shop closed, but until then she wanted to keep it a secret.

While the red head was busy making sure what she had planned for her "husband" later remained a secret, said husband had turned back to the tiny brunette.

He gave her another smile and extended his hand to her. "Now, I think I remember hearing you say something about meeting your sensei?"

Ariya nodded.

"Would you like me to help you find her, after all, I held you up for at least ten minutes."

The brunette had just smiled at him when another voice entered the conversation.

"I believe I can take over at this point."

Naruto turned to find an older kunoichi, a jounin by the looks of her vest, standing in the doorway.

"Sensei!"

Ariya rushed over to the woman's side, all the while apologizing for making her wait.

The woman waved off the small brunette's apologies and told her to make her way to their team's training ground, where the other two members were apparently sparring.

The green eyed girl nodded and made her way to the door, but stopped as she got close to it and turned to wave.

"Bye Naruto! Bye Tayuya!"

The pair smiled at her and waved their good byes before she run through the door and disappeared into the crowded street.

The girl's sensei stared after her for a moment, a small smile pulling at the edge of her lips, before she turned towards Naruto and Tayuya.

"I want to thank you for what you did, Naruto. She just recently joined my team with a graduating class two years her elder. She's already picked on by several of her peers for that reason, and the fact that she's a girl just makes it worse." A disgusted look appeared on the kunoichi's face.

Naruto nodded. "I can sympathize with her, in a way." He turned to his red headed girlfriend. "We both can, actually. Weren't too popular in our old village."

The jounin gave them a pleasant smile. "I've been trying to get her to open up from the moment I laid eyes on her. Too many young girls in Iwa are being influenced by older generations with sexist mindsets, to the point where they believe they are truly inferior, and accept it." The woman shook her head.

Silence reigned over the trio for several seconds, only the sounds of other customers going about their business in the shop could be heard.

The kunoichi sighed. "Well, I should go find my team, make sure they haven't killed each other." She nodded to both Naruto and Tayuya and started towards the door.

She turned at the last second though.

"By the way, my name is Tsuchi Ranki."

* * *

Naruto sighed in contentment as he burrowed under the covers of the bed he and Tayuya shared. Sleeping was the part of the day he most looked forward in Iwa, mostly due to the fact that he was supposed to be a civilian.

It was annoying, having to pretend he had no ninja skills whatsoever.

The blond shook those irritating thoughts from his head, deciding to focus more on sleeping instead. He reached out and wrapping his arms around Tayuya's waist, pulling her flush against him.

A content smile appeared on his lips as he felt the red head in his arms release a relaxed sigh.

He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, reveling in the shiver it sent down Tayuya's body, and spoke softly into her hair.

"What'd you think of Ariya and her sensei?"

The red head shifted around in his embrace to face him before she answered. "They seem nice enough, makes me hate Iwa even more after seeing what those fuckers did to that girl though."

Naruto nodded silently, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend's temple. "The markings though, what do you think of them?"

Tayuya shrugged, silently enjoying the fact that the blond became more affectionate as he grew tired, and buried her head in his shoulder. "Thought they were clan tattoos or something, like those stupid ass cheek swirls the Akimichi have."

She felt Naruto's body vibrate as he chuckled.

"Actually, I think it was all one big seal. Each of those circles had a kanji in it, and they all looked like they led to the same spot on her body."

The red head shrugged again. "Speculate tomorrow blondie, right now," she put a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down into a quick kiss, "go to sleep."

* * *

**A/N: **Well well, seems my plot line for the Iwa mission just got a bit thicker. Didn't even mean to do it either, but I like the version I have in mind much better than my original one.

The way Naruto and Tayuya reacted to the "bandit" last chapter was written mostly because they were still quite a few hours from Iwa. They weren't in sight of the gates or anything, so technically they didn't blow cover…as far as they know.

I've been going through a lapse in my interest of writing this story lately, but as I wrote this chapter I felt the majority of it return. Typically, I come up with far more interesting scenes and plots when I get excited about a story too, though most of em aren't exactly planned.

Well, that's chapter…whatever number it is, can't be bothered to scroll up and look. 'Till next time.


	15. Chapter 15

_

* * *

_

Previously

Naruto nodded silently, pressing a kiss to his girlfriend's temple. "The markings though, what do you think of them?"

Tayuya shrugged, silently enjoying the fact that the blond became more affectionate as he grew tired, and buried her head in his shoulder. "Thought they were clan tattoos or something, like those stupid ass cheek swirls the Akimichi have."

She felt Naruto's body vibrate as he chuckled.

"Actually, I think it was all one big seal. Each of those circles had a kanji in it, and they all looked like they led to the same spot on her body."

The red head shrugged again. "Speculate tomorrow blondie, right now," she put a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down into a quick kiss, "go to sleep."

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 14**

Naruto closed his eyes, forcing his body to relax. The darkness night in Iwa brought surrounded him as he crouched on top of the target building, a lite layer of snow coating his cloaked shoulders.

He opened his eyes again, silently putting on his goggles, and spoke softly into the communicator behind his white mask.

"Ready?"

Tayuya, wearing a cloak identical to his, flashed into existence beside him. She had checked the area for any disturbances in chakra that would signify a genjutsu, but had found nothing.

Naruto took in a breath as he heard her reply affirmatively. Nearly two weeks was spent planning this. The building was run completely by civilians, so it was unlikely that any genjutsu would be guarding it; chances are the only form of outside protection it had was a lock.

He shook his head of his thoughts and followed Tayuya down to the alleyway beside the building that held the majority of public records in Iwa.

Getting in, the blond found, was easy enough. It was a rather simple task of unlocking the building's back door.

In minutes both he and Tayuya were standing on either side of the recently opened door. Naruto made sure the hood of his cloak completely concealed his features before he sneaked a look inside the darkened building.

His goggle-covered eyes saw nothing out of place, so, after a hand gesture to his red headed partner, he darted inside.

Tayuya quickly followed him, moving on silent feet.

Between the two of them, the room that held all the official information regarding Iwa's populations was quickly located. This door, however, not only had a lock on it, but a seal as well.

Naruto cursed under his breath. Even in his tinted vision, he could recognize the odd coloration of a blood seal.

"This is a blood seal, only a few select people can access the room."

He managed to make out the red head's eyebrow arch in the darkness. "How would the civilian workers get into it then?"

"Iwagakure ninja wouldn't trust them to have access, they're too easily subdued..." He trailed off in thought.

"What if..." Tayuya interrupted his thoughts, "what if the ninja left behind a drop or two of their blood for the civilians to use?"

Naruto nodded. "That might be it, but then that blood would probably be under just as protected, if not more so, than this room. The possibilities of what one could do with a drop of their enemy's blood are endless, after all."

"Well either we smash through the damn thing and let everyone know we're here, or we try to find that blood."

The blond sighed, but agreed.

The pair wasted no time in making their way to the front room and beginning to search through the drawers of the front desks.

It wasn't until they had found a multitude of scrolls, writing utensils and even a magazine that made Tayuya grimace in disgust that they discovered a genjutsu covering part of a wall behind the desk.

The red head immediately began to dismantle it, almost effortlessly weaving through multiple layers of illusions, while Naruto replaced anything that had been disturbed in their search.

It only took Tayuya about thirty seconds to disable and analyze the genjutsu, revealing a square dug out portion in the wall. A minuscule vial of what had to be blood sat in the middle of an elaborate looking seal.

"Well," Naruto started, "I can tell it's a containment seal. Probably used to make sure the blood doesn't leave the space in this wall."

"Can you counter it?"

"Not quietly."

Tayuya's face fell.

"But I have an idea."

Her face transformed into an expression of wariness as the blond pulled gloves onto both of his hands.

Naruto must have caught her 'opinion', because he turned towards her with an amused look in his green tinted eyes.

"No faith in your husband?" Tayuya didn't know how he got his eyes to start watering. "I'm hurt."

The red head sighed while Naruto turned back towards the vial, he was rather certain that she'd muttered something like 'infuriating' under her breath, and abruptly reached in and grabbed the vial.

His partner couldn't contain her surprised gasp at the action, her eyebrows disappeared under her hairline.

Naruto turned towards her with what she was sure to be a shit eating grin on his face. "Well, now that I'm sure touching it won't do anything, I can try my plan."

"_You grabbed that stupid fucking vial without knowing what would happen?! Are you trying to get our asses killed blondie!?_"

The blond waved off her shouted whisper and flashed her another grin under his mask. She sighed again, this time in exasperation, while he formed a hand seal under the folds of his cloak.

_'Kage Bunshin.'_

A duplicate of Naruto appeared, along with a copy of the blood-holding vial.

The blond didn't dwell on his success long, instead holding his breath as the copy withdrew its hand from the hollowed out space in the wall.

Naruto's grin nearly split his face when the fake vial made it out without a problem. He set the real one back down where it had been and turned to follow his clone over to the sealed door while Tayuya began reforming the genjutsu that covered the wall.

The door accepted the copied blood without complaint, though Naruto kept his bunshin around just in case.

Upon entering, he found that the room was quite organized. It was sorted into categories and sub-categories of a multitude of different things.

The blond quickly located the section containing any sort of ninja record and began sorting through them with gloved hands.

He had found the local academy records for recent months, as well as any new foreigners that were admitted into Iwagakure as ninja, by the time Tayuya had finished duplicating the genjutsu over the wall.

Naruto took the information he found useful from its resting place and made two more shadow clones, both holding identical record scrolls, before he replaced the original copies. He then made his way towards the doorway where his partner was waiting for him and dispelled the clone he had used to grab the blood.

As expected, the blood on the seal also disappeared. From there, it was merely a simple job of re-locking the door and leaving everything as it had been found.

Naruto, Tayuya and the two clones were back in the alleyway seconds later.

The red head took a few moments to re-lock the back door, then disappeared into the night alongside her partner(s).

* * *

The next day dawned far too early for Naruto to enjoy it.

He and Tayuya had returned at around one in the morning and spent nearly two hours after that to copy down their newly acquired information, before something happened to dispel it. They'd finished it without any problems and collapsed into their bed as soon as they were done.

That had happened just three hours earlier.

Naruto sighed and forced his blue eyes open. He rubbed at them gently before stretching in every way he could think of, an action that caused him to remember he was still in his stealth clothes from the night before.

The blond cursed under his breath and staggered out of bed sleepily to change. He had to open up the shop in just over a half hour, after all.

It took him just a few minutes to wash his face, brush his teeth, change and finish the rest of his morning routine.

Finally, a somewhat awake Naruto walked back over to the bed, which looked a whole lot more inviting than usual, to find that Tayuya had managed to at least pull off the top half of her outfit. The action left her clothed in just an undershirt, one of his own, the blond realized with a smirk.

He stood watching her sleep in half jealousy half admiration for another minute or so, before he sighed and forced himself to walk downstairs.

The kunoichi of Iwa wouldn't be too happy if their favorite seal shop didn't open, after all. Word of the shopkeepers' attitudes towards women had spread throughout the city, so Naruto and his 'wife' had become the favored seal shop for the rather small female ninja population of Iwa.

Somewhat dazed, the blond went about unlocking the shop door and returning fallen seals to their rightful place. He finished a few minutes after starting and went to his place behind the counter, forcing himself to stay awake.

Hours passed by as customers came and went.

It was turning out to be a rather boring day, Naruto sourly noted as the sun was just reaching its midday position. Ariya would usually come to visit in the mornings, before her team meetings, but she had recently sent on the mission outside Iwa's natural walls. This, along with Tayuya still being asleep upstairs, left the blond bored to tears.

He sighed for what must have been the hundredth time that morning, silently praying something, _anything, _would happen.

He would later regret ever making such a wish.

* * *

When Tayuya finally stirred from her slumber it was nearly noon.

Dark eyes opened slowly, blinking repeatedly to bring the room into focus.

She idly noted that Naruto wasn't anywhere to be seen, and judging by the sunlight streaming in through their glassless window, that probably meant he was downstairs seeing to the shop.

She sighed and stretched, her guilt and thankfulness at the blond's actions being pushed aside for the moment.

A sudden rustle of movement near the window startled Tayuya to the point where she visibly jumped as her hand dove under her pillow for one of her daggers. She whipped it at the place she'd heard the sound come from before realizing what she was doing and only succeeded in shattering an ink container on the desk.

She cursed under her breath.

Why the hell would someone put a desk under a window that only has drapes on it. Wind would be able to mess up whatever work was on it at anytime.

Before she could think any further, Naruto rushed in the room, his features clearly expressing his worry.

Tayuya smiled sheepishly as his blue eyes surveyed the scene, deducing what happened with relative ease. He turned towards her with an amusing smirk on his face.

"I'm not cleaning that up."

She snorted and stuck her tongue out at him, but eventually succumbed to the smile that had been threatening to show itself.

"Thanks for letting me sleep." The red head paused as she pulled herself from the bed. "How long have you been up?"

"About six hours or so." His eyes were following her movement intently as she stretched.

"Give me a few minutes, I'll take care of everything down there. You need to sleep."

He nodded, a tired look appearing in his eyes at the thought.

It disappeared as quickly as it came though, replacing by realization.

"Damn it! The customers!"

He made to turn around, but was stopped by Tayuya placing a hand on his arm. He looked back at her, only to find her lips pressed against his in a soft kiss.

She pulled back a few seconds later, whispered another thank you, and disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

Grey eyes calmly surveyed the small kneeling subordinate before them, disgust and revulsion well hidden under their surface.

"Well?" The owner of the eyes grunted out distastefully.

The figure silently stood and held out a crumpled piece of parchment.

The Tsuchikage snatched it from the thing's hands, his eyes quickly traveling over the details the scroll contained.

He grinned in satisfaction, before his face twisted into an expression of distaste when he looked back to his subordinate.

"Were you seen?"

The figure shook its head.

"Good. Now, make yourself useful and get out of my sight!" He paused for a second, "And enjoy the time you have outside your cell, it'll soon be over."

_It_ stood quickly and headed for the door, ignoring the taunting of the Tsuchikage, only raising its head just enough to see ahead.

The action revealed the figure's eyes, glazed emerald in color.

* * *

"This doesn't make any sense."

Tayuya nodded in agreement with her partner's statement. The shop had been closed about a half hour ago, leaving the two of them to pour over the stolen information in their room.

"Iwa's ninja population recently saw a rapid increase, but the majority of new shinobi to join their ranks were fresh out of the academy."

"I think," Naruto rubbed his forehead, "this influx of ninja in Iwa was brought about by the end of the last great shinobi war. It ended about ten or eleven years ago, so all the children that were born to relieved couples would just now be joining Iwa as genin."

Tayuya groaned in frustration. "That still doesn't explain where all the missing nin have been going though."

Before they could speak any further, a loud crashing sound came from downstairs.

Both their heads snapped towards the doorway leading to the stairs, wasting little time to get to their feet.

Naruto made it down first, but stopped short at the sight in front of him, the abrupt action caused Tayuya to run straight into his back. They collapsed together in an undignified heap on the ground.

The red head pulled herself free from her partner, not noticing the direction his eyes were staring unblinkingly in.

"Damnit blondie! Don't just fucking stop at the bottom of the damn stairs!" He remained motionless, as if he hadn't heard her at all. "Blondie!" Another pause. "Oi dumb ass!"

Naruto remained silent and seemingly oblivious to her attempts at gaining his attention.

Tayuya let out a frustrated groan and looked up to try and find what he was staring at.

Her mouth dropped open as she paled dramatically.

"Kami..." She whispered as her eyes widened.

Ariya, it seemed, was back from her mission early, but it definitely wasn't in the condition she was expected in. The tiny brunette had deep gashes running along the markings that went down her arms and legs, blood pouring in generous amounts from them. No clothes were on her body and the insides of her thighs were freckled in fresh blood. Her tongue seemed to have been pulled out in a brutal fashion, if the tiny gurgling sound she made when she attempted to breath was any indication. Her formerly shoulder length brown had been hacked to pieces and looked to have been ripped out completely in some places.

Tayuya had seen and even committed some rather brutal killings, mostly to ignorant Konoha civilians that got too daring, but upon taking in the sight that had been made of a nine year old girl...she found herself trying not to vomit.

Movement in the corner of her eye startled her.

Naruto had gotten to his feet and run over to the small girl. He quickly gathered her in his arms, careful to be as gentle as possible, and made his way back upstairs.

Tayuya quickly followed him after forcing her body to stop shaking and taking a moment to collect herself.

When she entered their room, she found Naruto leaning over Ariya on their bed, using rudimentary first aid skills to do as much as he could to help. The red head made her way over as well, forcing the bile back down her throat when she got close enough to see the girl for the first time in candle light.

It was far worse than Tayuya had first expected. The gashes on her legs and arms were twice as deep as the red head had originally thought, to the point where you could see the girl's bones through the wounds. The majority of her fingers were visibly broken, and one was actually dangling loosely off the brunette's hand, only a faint amount of skin keeping it from falling off completely.

The red head shivered violently and turned away from the scene, her gag reflex acting up horribly.

Her eyes widened though, when she saw three new additions to the room.

_'Shit,' _she cursed, still shivering, _'ANBU...'_

One of the masked Iwa ninja, the leader by the looks of it, laughed coldly.

"Stop your futile attempts to help that bitch, she'll live...she _always _does."

Naruto ignored him, shoulders shaking in raw fury, while he continued working furiously to help Ariya.

The ANBU observed the blond for a moment and chuckled to himself. "She served as a worthwhile distraction while we confirmed our suspicions." He gestured to the desk that held the stolen information. "We just had to... ah, _convince _her to help the cause."

Malevolent red chakra started appearing in the form of a red hue around Naruto. The boy's arms had started twitching violently while the ANBU spoke and his eyes had clenched shut in anger.

"I told you didn't I? She'll be fine." The nin laughed again. "There are quite a few things you don't know about your little friend there...," he sneered, "why don't you have a close look at her, you'll see what I mean."

Tayuya shifted so she could see Ariya, but still keep the ANBU in her sights, while Naruto opened his eyes.

The red head's mouth dropped open while her partner's face quickly took on a look of realization followed quickly by an emotionless expression.

The gashes on the girl's limbs were significantly smaller than they were before and her fingers had somehow repaired themselves to the point where it looked as if they were never broken in the first place. Her tongue had somehow regrown and the numerous bruises that marred her flesh were disappearing rapidly. Soon, the only reminder of her previous condition was the dried blood that covered the majority of her skin.

A snap from the head ANBU brought Naruto and Tayuya back to the situation at hand.

The Iwa ninja ignored them in favor of looking towards Ariya though. The tiny brunette had sat up rigidly when the snap resounded throughout the room and was now completely motionless, blank green eyes staring straight ahead.

"Come here." The nin snarled.

Ariya obeyed without protest, walking stiffly towards the ANBU.

Tayuya and Naruto could clearly see the brunette's back now, as her mutilated hair didn't covered anything.

The seemingly calm blond immediately became enraged when his eyes found a seal on the tiny girl's neck. His teeth lengthened and grew sharper, claws formed on his hands and feet. Gentle blue eyes were replaced by cruel red ones, blood lust evident in their depths.

"A control seal?!" He spat out.

The ANBU seemed to be grinning. "Little bitch wouldn't do what we needed, had to get forceful with her." He viciously back handed her as she reached him. "Not good for anything else after all, the damn demon."

Naruto's jaw clenched in fury, his breathing becoming uneven.

The man continued darkly , obviously enjoying the anger he was causing. "Haven't you ever wondered what the markings on this disgusting bitch are for?" He paused to kick the brunette on the ground harshly. "This little shit is a demon not worthy of life, the few days she gets to see sunlight are a few too many." He sneered down at the girl. "The only use this bitch has is her healing...comes in handy when someone wants to _play _with her."

Naruto saw red, his building anger finally being pushed past his control with the last comment, a fact that was proven by a tail made of sickly red chakra swaying behind him. His body was numb in pain at this point, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The only thing his mind could focus on was the brutal death of the man in front of him. Suffocating red chakra flooded the room like a deadly miasma.

He surged forward with a primal roar on all fours just as recognition flashed in the soon-to-be dead man's eyes, his speed catching the Iwa nin slightly off guard.

The moment the blood reached the man he let out all his fury in a torrent of clawed attacks.

The ANBU quickly found himself on the defensive under the vicious assault of what he knew now to be another demon. Whenever he dodged one attack, two more seemed to take its place. Whenever he got a chance to breathe, red chakra would converge on him. Whenever he found a chance to counter an attack, the speed of the attacks doubled.

The man's eyes grew wide as the situation grew worse for him. This _thing _was no human being. No mere boy should be able to do the things he was doing.

A clawed hand viciously tore through his arm, cleaving it off at the elbow.

The Iwa nin clenched his jaw down in an attempt to cut off the scream of pain. He barely even noticed a second tail-like object forming behind the boy. All he noticed was the presence of more red chakra that came with it. It was suffocating, forcing him to breath in gasps. It burned his skin on contact, leaving nothing but searing blisters wherever it touched.

Five gashes were sliced open diagonally down his chest, from shoulder to hip.

The man stumbled backwards, his panicked mind searching desperately for anything to save him from his fate. His teammates, rookie ANBU just as he was, stood frozen and shivering under the influence of the inhumane chakra. The man kept looking around the red tinted room, the only source of light being the very red chakra that was trying to tear him limb from limb.

He lost an eye under the assault, ripped out by the demon's claws.

The girl! The ANBU's breath was coming in uneven gasps at this point, his body becoming colder with every second that passed. He knew he didn't have much time, if he was going to live, he needed to act now.

The man put the last of his dwindling strength into a burst of speed. He shot past the terror that boy had become and headed straight for the red headed girl. She had no time to react as he grabbed her with a speed he doubted she could track and whirled around with her in front of him.

Just in time for the demon's claws to tear through the skin of her chest, leaving behind a gash that started at her left shoulder and ended around the right side of her waist.

Naruto froze, his eyes going wide. Even his anger clouded senses could understand what he'd just done.

The Iwa nin scrambled away from the distracted blond, quickly running towards the window while his comrades sprinted away after him. Anything to get away from that presence. The presence that reeked of blood lust and felt like pure evil.

* * *

"_No..."_

Tayuya's heavily bleeding form was lying motionless on the ground before him, from a wound that he himself caused. His body felt numb, like all it wanted him to do was stare.

The Kyuubi's influence was rapidly pulling away from him, sapping his energy and leaving him in mind numbing pain. The room went completely dark, free from the red taint that lit it before.

Naruto's vision blurred as he fell to his knees.

Tayuya was dying.

And it was his fault.

"Hey...," the blond heard a weak voice in his dazed state, "blondie."

Naruto turned towards his partner, a girl who had arguably become the center of his life over the past eight years, to find she was looking at him through dilated eyes.

"Don't," she gasped in a breath, "don't blame yourself."

The Kyuubi jinchuriki shook his head and clenched his teeth, tears falling freely from his eyes.

"No," he whispered, "you'll live Tayuya, you have to." He pulled out a roll of bandages from one of his pockets and attempted to wrap her wound up, something that could possibly be making the situation worse due to his half-conscious condition.

Naruto realized that fact as well, but only when the red head grunted in pain.

He threw the bandages away in anger and desperately started searching his mind for a way to save her.

He only knew basic healing jutsu, a skill that this injury was far too serious for. Taijutsu obviously wouldn't help, nor would any genjutsu. His shadow clones could help patch her up faster, but in his state, he'd only make it worse.

"Damnit!"

He punched the floor in frustration, causing the container of ink brushes that had fallen from the desk earlier to noisily crash against each other.

Naruto looked towards the object, pushing his foggy mind to come up with a way to save Tayuya.

_'Fuinjutsu!'_

The blond had taken to fuinjutsu over the past few months in Iwa with an interest that impressed Tayuya. He would study the book that belonged to the Yondaime – his father – for hours at a time, memorizing hundreds of seals and toying with hundreds more. It seemed whenever he wasn't running the shop, eating, sleeping or spending time with his red headed girlfriend, he would be found reading that book.

It was with that new found knowledge of seals in his head that Naruto stumbled back over to Tayuya after having retrieved the brushes and a few smaller scrolls to write on.

He knelt down next to the red head, who looked far too pale in the dim lighting for the blond's liking, and used a clean ink brush to gather some of the girl's blood on its tip. He then started drawing out a seal that was loosely designated an Exchange seal.

This seal would, in theory, be able to channel chakra between him and Tayuya, allowing him to use the Kyuubi's chakra to heal her. Although it had never been used on two human subjects before, Naruto was desperate enough to try anything to save her.

He finished the seal drawn in her blood, laced with Kyuubi's chakra, and set it aside. The blond then pricked his finger and started drawing out an identical seal in his blood, the troubled breathing of his partner driving him to work faster.

It took the whiskered boy only moments to finish the second seal, after which, he immediately picked up the seal drawn in Tayuya's blood and held it up to his left shoulder.

"Tayuya," he whispered as he gently lifted her hand to the shoulder the seal was positioned over, "I need you to use your chakra to finish this seal."

He waited a few seconds that seemed to last an eternity for a response and was about to try to get her attention again when the seal on his shoulder suddenly glowed bright red.

Naruto winced as the blood seal was ingrained permanently into his skin, nothing could erase a blood seal, the only reason he even considered using blood to draw them was because he wanted to make sure they were strong enough to stand channeling chakra between two humans. Usually these seals were only used with one living component and one nonliving component, like the seals used when Konoha nin would have to recharge the walls, so he wanted to take no chances.

The blond felt even more light headed as the seal on his shoulder started drawing chakra from his body and pushing it out into the room. He quickly grabbed the seal done in his blood and placed it on Tayuya's injured shoulder.

Only a few minutes had passed since the Iwa ANBU left, but the red head's condition scared him more than anything else he could remember.

Naruto sealed the drawing onto his partner's shoulder with his own chakra, desperately hoping his plan would work.

The blond felt a surge of chakra leave him and finally succumbed to the darkness that was unconsciousness.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, that was one of the harder chapters to write. I like how it turned out in the end though, even if it was just over a week late.

So we're finally getting into some of the larger plans I have for this story, you'll start seeing more changes from the Narutoverse from this point on.

Anyway, next chapter will probably come with another power ranking, see you then.


	16. Chapter 16

_Previously_

Naruto sealed the drawing onto his partner's shoulder with his own chakra, desperately hoping his plan would work.

The blond felt a surge of chakra leave him and finally succumbed to the darkness that was unconsciousness.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 15**

Tayuya sat up abruptly, dark brown eyes snapping open from her sleep just as the events of her last moments awake came rushing back to her. She looked down at her torso somewhat warily.

She found no sign of an injury at all though, not even her shirt was damaged.

She narrowed her eyes and looked up to take in her surroundings. Confusion immediately flooded her mind.

She was in what seemed to be a long and narrow hallway, continuing on for as far as she could see in the dim lighting. Green, sickly looking water covered the floor and the walls seemed to be made out of countless pipes, the smaller ones colored blue, while the larger, less numerous ones were glowing red. Those leaky grim covered pipes were the only source of light in the hallway.

Utter silence was the only thing that accompanied her in the dreary environment, unbroken, but for the faint dripping of water in the distance.

Her newly gained knowledge about her location, or lack there of, unnerved her greatly.

There was a feeling about the air as well, it was strangely familiar to her, yet she couldn't even begin to guess at what it was. It made her skin crawl, her hair stand on end and her breathing to become slightly troubled.

She swallowed and shook her head to gain some form of control over her thoughts.

The only thing she could do now, Tayuya figured, was explore wherever the hell she was.

With that, the red head got to her feet and cautiously started making her way down the hallway.

* * *

Naruto was abruptly pulled from his unconscious state by something slamming into his head. Something wet... very wet.

The blond lifted his head up and groggily opened his eyes to find that he was in one of his most favorite places in existence.

A familiar sewer-like hallway.

Note the sarcasm.

He sighed in annoyance, his thoughts still dwelling on his partner and whether or not she was alright. He really had no idea if the seals would work, there were too many unknown factors to be certain, but he could only hope for the best.

The blond stood and let out a breath, resolving to ask his loving tenant about whether his efforts were successful or not.

With that, he started down the familiar path to the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

As he was walking though, Naruto noticed a rather strange difference in the pipes that made up the walls. They were still colored red and blue for the Kyuubi's chakra and his own respectively, but he never thought there were so many blue ones. He thought more on it as he was walking, but eventually ended up deciding that it had always been this way, his mind had just never realized it. After all, it wasn't as if he liked thinking about this place.

However, after another few minutes of walking the blond knew something was different about the walls, without a doubt. The numerous blue pipes were slowly merging together as he got closer to the Kyuubi's prison, forming larger blue pipes. They weren't anywhere near as big as the red ones, but they were definitely bigger than they were the last time he had visited.

"_A side effect of the sealing?" _He idly wondered as he rounded one of the last few corners before the room that held his tenant.

"_That'd mean the sealing was successful!" _Despite his attempts against it, Naruto felt his hopes rise at the thought. If the changes in the pipes was in fact because of the seals, that would mean Tayuya would have a significantly larger chance of living.

The blond, now grinning like a fool as he absentmindedly shrugged off whatever small amount of the Kyuubi's killing intent got through the seal, turned the last corner and entered the massive room that was his destination.

"Kyuubi!" He called out.

Soon enough, the massive red eyes he'd grown accustomed to stared down at him. **"What is it, fleshbag?" **A grin decorated the fox's face, an expression that instantly unnerved Naruto.

The blond, unaware of the fact that there were two pairs of eyes on him, responded.

"Why are the pipes signifying our chakra changing?" As if on queue, a pair of blue pipes behind the blond merged together.

"**Think about it for a moment, even one of your dismal intellect should be able to figure it out," **the demon's grin grew while he continued to stare unblinking at his jailer, **"there are twice as many pipes signifying your worthless human chakra, and now, they're merging in a pathetic attempt to grow stronger."**

Naruto ignored the usual insults that spewed from the Kyuubi's mouth, as well as the almost psychotic grin on its face. The giant demon had hinted at the fact that there was twice as much human chakra present, as well as the fact that it was merging to become stronger.

His eyes widened.

"The seals..." he murmured.

"**Now you're getting it!" **The fox's blood red eyes widened with amusement while his grin grew to a size that threatened to split its face. **"Now tell me what that means here, put that pathetic brain to use and figure out why there are now two different chakra sources in this representation of your mind!"**

"Tayuya's chakra..." The blond trailed off and looked towards some of the pipes that had yet to merge. "Did I combine our chakra?"

The Kyuubi's increasing enjoyment of Naruto's struggle caused it to let out a deep, rumbling laugh. **"So tell me, fleshbag. If you combined your chakra with that of your mate's," **the blood lust in its eyes seemed to intensify, **"wouldn't that mean she could come here as well?"**

Naruto swore under his breath and spun around, sure enough, he found Tayuya. She was shivering so violently that it was visible from his position several meters away. Her eyes were darting around the room and she had curled her body up as tight as she could get it.

The Kyuubi stopped holding its mirth back and broke out into cruel, vicious laughter. **"Such a fool! She ventured into this room, up to this accursed door, without a clue what was waiting for her!" **It broke off into more blood curdling laughter, the entirety of the room shaking violently. **"You may know how far I can get my chakra outside the seal before it's pulled back, fleshbag, but she does not!"**

The blond had just reached his partner at the Kyuubi's last statement. His eyes widened. Tayuya had gotten a pure dose of the nine tails' full chakra at that range? When the fox had gotten him with the same trick so many years earlier, he was still a few meters away from the cage. Tayuya wasn't as lucky.

He hugged the shivering red head against him, glaring viciously at his tenant as he did so.

The fox grinned down at the blond, seemingly taking pleasure at the reactions it had caused, but its ears suddenly perked up.

A low rumbling sound came from the Kyuubi, a growl.

Naruto fought off a shiver as the demon turned towards him.

"**You have company, human. I do not wish to die inside this degrading seal, and so, you will not die either." **It was more of a threat than anything, Naruto noted, as his vision faded into darkness.

* * *

Tayuya awoke groaning, her body stiff and protesting every move she made, and extremely disoriented. Her mind was still a mess of thoughts, mostly focusing on the red eyed being behind that cage door.

She shivered.

It had happened very quickly, one moment she was reaching out to touch the bars of the door, and the next she felt agonizing pain over the entirety of her body. She couldn't even breathe in that red chakra.

She abruptly looked to the left, movement startling her out of her thoughts, to find that Naruto was stirring. Something else caught her eye too though, an odd looking seal on her left shoulder. It wasn't so much the seal that was strange though, even she could tell the kanji in the middle had something to do with a transfer, but what was flowing in and out of it.

_'Chakra?' _She thought numbly.

A bright blue substance that was indeed chakra was flowing out of the seal on her shoulder on one side, and into it on the other.

Tayuya arched an eyebrow and traced the chakra's path, finding it to end at Naruto's left shoulder, where a seal identical to the one on her shoulder could be found.

The red head blinked. _'A chakra flow?' _

"Tayuya."

She looked up at her partner's eyes, who looked like he had seen far better days, with a questioning expression clearly covering her features.

Naruto grinned weakly at her, the strain of using not one, but two tails of the Kyuubi's chakra clearly evident in his movements. He was barely holding on to consciousness, sheer determination was the only thing that kept him on his feet.

He gestured towards the visible chakra flow between them. "It was meant to be temporary, just enough for me to transfer some of Kyuubi's chakra, along with a little of my own as a buffer, to heal your wound." He fought to get his breathing under control. "I think the blood aspect might have made it permenant."

"What the hell are you talking about blondie? These seals?"

Naruto shook his head. "We don't have time to talk here, I'll explain later. We need to get out of here first, before more Iwa shinobi come."

Tayuya nodded reluctantly and started to go about gathering their important possessions while her blond partner made his way over to the unconscious form of Ariya.

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki held an almost unnatural level of sympathy for her. She was treated far worse than he ever was in Konoha; her home was hundreds of feet underground and her naivety was used against her in the harshest of ways.

He picked up the small jinchuuriki in his arms, his face set in determination, and walked towards Tayuya.

The red head seemed to understand his intentions, because she had some of their spare clothes in her arms for the still naked brunette to wear.

Naruto shook his head at her. "Not yet, I've gotta get rid of this damned control seal."

It only took a few seconds to remove the seal with a chakra enhanced kunai. It was done in ink, so it could scraped off; the angry red skin where the seal used to be was certainly going to be sensitive for a while, but the circumstances it was removed under left little choice for a cleaner removal.

Once he had finished, Naruto stood and nodded to Tayuya. They quickly dressed the girl, after which the blond picked her up bridal style, and made their way out into the cold Iwa night.

* * *

Her awareness slowly returned to her, starting first with a feeling of coldness that spread across her body. She shivered involuntarily and curled into a tight ball in an attempt to fight off the frigid air. The action only succeeded in causing her to realize just how much her joints ached though, evident by the small yelp she let off.

Ariya forced her emerald eyes open to find her vision was nothing more than a blur. She knew one thing though, she wasn't in her underground cell. The countless runes and kanji engraved into the walls weren't flashing at random, keeping her chakra completely locked and her body in a state of utter helplessness.

The brunette shifted and started to rub at her eyes, idly noting that her back was against something warm, wincing whenever she moved a joint that was particularly sore. It was at that point that she realized she had clothes on. When she blacked out...

Her eyes widened.

She blinked several times to restore her vision and looked around fearfully. She didn't find endless amounts of sadistic looking Iwa nin this time though, instead, she discovered that she was currently sitting sideways in someone's lap.

Ariya looked up and to the side from her position to find the face of whomever she was currently sitting on, only to find their features shrouded in darkness due to the black hood they wore. The only thing she could make out was an intimidating white mask that covered their mouth and nose.

It was after she had been looking at the figure for several seconds that she abruptly remembered the warm thing against her back.

The brunette carefully shifted enough just to see what was behind her.

Much to her surprise, she found another cloak-wearing, masked person. They were identical to the first, intimidation and all, except this figure was a bit larger.

Ariya shivered, her curiosity with her surroundings finally fading, allowing the reality of her situation to set in.

She was sitting on someone's lap, who was sitting on the lap of someone else. She had no idea where she was or why she was outside and the identities of the two people with her were currently unknown.

The small girl whimpered softly and curled into the body pressed against her side.

Had she done something wrong again? If so, why wasn't she being raped and tortured as punishment?

The brunette's thoughts continued to become even more confused while she remained perfectly still against the bodies keeping her warm, partially because of the cold winter night and partially because she was too terrified to find out what would happen if she did try to move. To escape...

A bright blue glow in the corner of her eye snapped her back into a fully aware state. Her first instinct was to cower away from it, due to the likeness it had to the seals in her cell, but she soon found the situation to be completely different.

Ariya quickly figured out it was chakra, flowing and moving chakra at that. It had no definite shape, always changing from one to the next, though it always held the rough shape of a line. It looked like half of it was moving in one direction while the other half was going the opposite way. She traced the chakra flow with her eyes, finding that one end was coming from the shoulder of one of the cloaked people while the other end was flowing from the shoulder of the other cloaked person.

Any further thought was abruptly cut off when the bigger of the two people inhaled sharply, alluding to the fact that he was waking up.

He seemed to be in a state of awareness in less than three seconds after awakening, and quickly found a fearful Ariya staring up at him from Tayuya's lap.

Naruto chuckled.

"Don't worry Ariya, it's only me."

The brunette's face instantly morphed into an expression of confusion, something that look rather endearing on the young girl.

"Naruto?" Came the hesitant question, her soft voice carrying obvious signs of timidness.

The blond nodded and started to prod Tayuya's side in an effort to wake her. The sun wasn't up yet, but he could easily tell that morning was quickly approaching. They needed to be outside the city walls as soon as possible, and if they could do it while it was still somewhat dark, all the better.

Naruto had learned last night that the walls were reinforced with chakra when he tried a wind jutsu to see what effect it would have. The only damage he'd inflicted was currently residing in his pocket; a small shard of rock that weighed entirely too heavy to be normal. Apparently chakra enhanced items were heavier than they should be...

Blue eyes widened, his mind straining to recall what happened with the Iwa ANBU not even a day earlier.

"Ariya," the blond whispered, "those Iwa nin said something about you not getting to see sunlight very often? What did they mean?"

The brunette's face twisted into an expression of sadness, an action that caused guilt to rise up in Naruto, but she answered the question anyway. "I live underground in a dark room with a bunch of glowy things on the walls. I don't like that place..."

The whiskered boy sighed in relief. The shard of the rock wall in his pocket told him that the walls could only be reinforced with chakra over solid ground, they would be far too heavy anything but...if there were some portions of Iwa that were undergound...

"What direction is that place Ariya? I think I can use it to get us out of here."

The girl's face immediately lit up. "You mean I can come with you?!"

Naruto simply nodded and jabbed Tayuya's side a little harder...his legs were asleep and it'd take a while to get feeling back to them.

"Okay," Ariya chirped, "I can show you where it is."

The blond nodded again and resorted to shoving his partner off of him to get her to wake up, after having picked up the excitable brunette first, of course. The red head tumbled to the ground, abruptly woken from the movement, and let off a colorful string of curses that had Ariya's face twisted into an expression of curiosity.

The brunette looked up at Naruto and opened her mouth. "What does-"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

* * *

By the time Naruto and Tayuya had reached the portion of the wall they believed to be over the underground complex of cells, the sun was in the process of rising. They'd already had two close calls with patrols and neither wanted to risk being in the city in broad daylight.

Naruto lowered Ariya to her feet the moment he hit the ground and turned to face the wall, sucking in a large amount of air as he did so.

_'Daitoppa!'_

The powerful burst of wind hit the wall with a loud impact, causing broken shards of rock to scatter about the ground.

The blond quickly picked one up. It was heavier than it should have been, but no where near as heavy as the first one.

He nodded. '_Daitoppa! Daitoppa! Daitoppa!'_

The three consecutive attacks managed break through nearly half of the wall's bulk, but before Naruto could continue he felt three badly hidden chakra presences enter his awareness.

"Damnit!" He cursed under his breath, shoving his hand into the pouch on his hip even as four more presences, these better hidden, joined the original three. He pulled his hand out, having found his roll of explosive seals, and sprinted towards the wall. The blond then proceeded to place no less than ten of his improved seals in the tunnel-like hole his wind jutsu had made in the wall.

The chakra sources were mere seconds away as Naruto jumped away from the wall and picked up Ariya, triggering the detonation seals as he did so.

Seconds later, an earth shattering explosion rocked a portion of Iwa's eastern wall, managing something that no one ever had before.

The masked nin had breached Iwa's walls with brute force.

That thought was far from being at the forefront of Naruto's mind as he and Tayuya jumped out of the newly made opening in the wall though. The only thing he had time to worry about was dodging the numerous kunai and shuriken that were being pelted at them, courtesy of the Iwa nin chasing them.

He exhaled in annoyance and made a one handed seal.

_'Kage-Bunshin!'_

The clones immediately turned towards their pursuers and attempted to delay them with shadow copies of the explosive seals in their pouches. They weren't anywhere near as efficient as their creator, but still succeeded in taking out three of the nine enemy ninja before they were destroyed.

Naruto grinned in satisfaction as he and Tayuya entered a patch of land covered in dense forest, his hand already forming another seal.

A familiar whistling sound followed by an incoherent shout cut off whatever the blond had planned though. He came to an abrupt stop just inside a rather large clearing in the trees.

More Iwa nin suddenly appeared amongst the tree branches, all of them standing somewhat awkwardly in the foilage.

"This doesn't look good..."

"No shit blondie, we're surrounded."

"They aren't used to fighting in the trees," Naruto observed as he shrugged nonchalantly, "use it to your advantage."

With that, the blond set Ariya down and whispered a warning to her. The brunette promptly ran off and hid herself in the foliage. Tayuya finished hiding the small girl by placing a genjutsu over her, the Iwa nin already knew where she was, but at least now the red head would know if her genjutsu was broken.

Any further thought was cut short as one of the Iwa nin, a jounin if his vest was any indication, sent three shuriken hurling at the pair with no small amount of speed.

Naruto rolled to his side and immediately dashed forward while Tayuya hopped back and grabbed both her daggers. She then went about flowing through a chain of hand seals.

"Mira-ken no jutsu!"

Three pairs of daggers, exact replicas of the ones in Tayuya's hands, shimmered into view and immediately went about trying to hack whatever enemy was closest into tiny pieces.

The red head breathed a sigh of relief, a feeling of power washing over her as soon as she had finished her jutsu. It felt like using chakra was no longer straining on her body, but rather, relieving. She shook her head clear of thoughts and resolved to make sure she got a good explanation of the chakra seals from Naruto after this ordeal was over.

She abruptly turned to the right, finding a large number of Iwa nin charging her head on, supported by three more of their allies in the trees.

The red head grit her teeth as she intercepted the first kunai slash made by an enemy chuunin, redirecting it with an ease that caused her opponent to stumble. Before she could capitalize on the opening though, she was forced to duck into a backwards somersault to evade what would have been a decapitating strike.

Tayuya was given no room to breath though, for as soon as she regained her footing, she found two more Iwa nin in her face.

"Fuck!" She hissed under her breath as she blocked two more attacks with her daggers, immediately finding the force behind the attack to be overpowering her. The signature whistling sound of shuriken appeared behind her not even a second later.

She only just managed a rather sloppy substitution jutsu, but it had done its job and saved her life.

Tayuya grit her teeth and took in a deep breath of air, startled but pleased to find she wasn't even slightly winded.

Naruto suddenly appeared beside her.

"I don't know what's going to happen to you if I use Kyuubi's chakra."

"The hell's that supposed to mean blondie," she murmured back to him, her eyes skillfully tracking as many Iwa nin as they could manage.

"I mean I don't know if you'll be effected by its chakra. I already know we're sharing chakra at this point, something I'll look into later...but in this situation, I don't think I have any other option."

Tayuya licked her lips behind the white mask on her face. "Then try it, we don't have much of a chance if you don't."

Her statement was completely correct, and they both knew it. Skilled as they were, somewhere around twenty five Iwa chuunin and jounin were too much for them.

The red head didn't have a chance to think any further though, as a stinging sensation suddenly made itself known on her left shoulder. She stole a look at the joint, finding a now familiar red chakra slowly enveloping her body.

The discomfort it caused was barely even noticeable, something that had her turning towards Naruto to ask why, when pain suddenly flooded her brain.

She grit her teeth as the red chakra oozed itself over her body, until it covered her completely, at which point the pain that had her wincing faded into a numbing feeling. She stretched, grinning as she did so.

"Damn this feels good..."

She heard Naruto chuckle. "_Now _it feels good, just wait till later."

Tayuya grunted in indifference, instead choosing to dart forward towards the Iwa nin, branishing her new claw-like fingernails as she did so.

* * *

Iwa squads were typically made up of five members, four that engaged any enemy they came up against while the last one remained slightly behind as back up or, if the situation was serious enough, a messenger to warn the village of the possible danger.

These last resort nin were typically those that had been recently promoted, tagging along with a team of ninja that held their new rank to gain experience and skills, until they were ready for combat themselves.

And so, five ninja, one for each of the squads that were currently hunting down two spies, sat waiting in the trees for any indication of what their action should be.

Three of them, newly promoted jounin, had jumped into the battle as dangerous looking red chakra began appearing on the two intimidating cloaked figures. Of the remaining chuunin, one fidgeted restlessly before entering the battle himself while the last held his position, crouched amongst the dense foilage.

It was from this position that he would witness a scene that he would never forget.

He'd seen people get killed before, it was part of being a ninja after all, but never before in a way so brutal.

One of the cloaked figures darted forward, wielding deadly looking claws coated with malicious red chakra, and slashed through one of the chuunin's teammates with absolutely no resistance. The unfortunate man didn't even have time to scream as his body was split straight down the middle.

In the time it took the Iwa nin to get over their surprise, the other, larger, cloaked figure had already cleaved an arm and a leg off another ninja.

It was then, after the moment of dead silence in the clearing, that the slaughter truly began.

A jounin reacted first to the deaths of his comrades and charged the smaller figure, he was mercilessly impaled by a clawed hand, a hand that quickly withdrew itself from his body, but not before ripping out his heart with it. The cloaked nin then proceeded to crush the organ in its palm, ignoring the small torrent of blood that stained its clothes, and lashed out at a nearby chuunin.

A large gash opened on the woman's chest, steam erupting from it the moment it appeared. She went down screaming even as one of her comrades joined her, this one with burn scars all over his limbs and a gaping hole where his stomach should have been.

The chuunin perched in the trees clenched his jaw shut, his eyes somehow glued to the carnage he was witnessing. He didn't even realize he'd sunk to his knees while his eyes widened in disbelief.

Slash after slash.

Cleave after cleave.

The entire population of Iwa nin in the clearing eventually fell to the demonic cloaked figures. Some went down due to loss of one or both legs, other because their organs had simply been torn out by a clawed hand, one was even unfortunate enough to have been eviscerated by claw that had caught on one of his intestines.

The rookie chuunin fell to the forest floor with a dull thump, eyes still locked on the cloaked figures.

Said figures were alerted to the man's presence by his fall though. They turned as one towards the nin and looked down at him.

It was because of his angle that the man could see their eyes.

Blood lust and malice darkened the ruby red pools that each contained a black slit-like pupil. Those eyes were not of human origin, definitely not. No one could harness that kind of rage and blood lust, not even the most skilled and emotionless ninja had eyes like that.

"_Demons!" _He thought with a startled yelp. The man scrambled to his feet, stumbling and tripping as he did so, then proceeded to run as if his life depending on it. Anything to get away from the massacre he'd just witnessed. From those ruthless demons, each with a tail of red chakra floating behind them.

All his mind could think of was the scene in the forest. The claws. The fangs. The poisonous red chakra flowing between the demons. _The eyes._

The man let out a panicked yelp and pushed himself to move faster, not knowing that he was about to bring the ninja world information on two ninja that would become legends.

* * *

"Report."

The Tsuchikage's assistant shuffled nervously for a second before a threatening growl from the earth shadow scared him into speaking.

"The damage to the wall is severe, Tsuchikage-sama. It will be a minimum of two weeks before we can repair it, let alone begin the process of putting as much chakra as the ground can support into it. Due to the underground area that was damaged, several prisoners also escaped, however, all but one have been recaptured."

The grey eyed man grunted in indifference, nodded rigidly as a signal for the bumbling man to continue.

"Prisoner #064 has evaded capture a-"

He was abruptly cut off by an Iwa chuunin whose expression could only be described as a look of pure and utter terror.

"Tsu-tsuchikage-sama! The squads that were sent after the spies...they..." He breathed heavily for several moments, attempting to regain his breath. "I- it was a massacre! The eyes- they-"

"Silence!" The grey eyed man commanded, watching as the chuunin snapped into a rigid stance. "Tell me what you saw regarding the two spies, and without stumbling over your words."

The chuunin swallowed heavily, still struggling with his words. "The squads, tsuchikage-sama, the squads! They've been slaughtered!"

"How." Came the cold reply.

"I-" He stopped and shivered violently. "It was...horrible. Blood, a-and red eyes! They aren't human! They're demons!"

The tsuchikage abruptly stood and moved in front of the chuunin before anyone could register the movement. The older man grabbed the stuttering ninja and hoisted him up to his eye level by the front of his shirt.

"Tell. me. what. Happened." He grit out. "Now."

"-linked! Linked with red chakra! It felt horrible, like death warmed over! A-and the eyes!" The chuunin's eyes were darting across the room at random, as if something would jump out and cleave him into pieces. "They were linked by demonic chakra! Linked!"

The tsuchikage threw the babbling man away and turned to his now somewhat unnerved assitant. "Take this man to the hospital for the night. I want a full report on what he saw on my desk tomorrow morning."

The assistant nodded quickly and helped the terrified chuunin to his feet, leading him from the chamber.

Cold grey eyes watched them go.

"_Linked were they?"_

He looked to the side at nothing in particular, deep in his thoughts.

"_Heisetsu..."_

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there you have it, it's a few days overdue, but the last two scenes gave me a lot of trouble writing.

To those of you confused with what's going on with the seals on their shoulders, don't worry, it'll be explained fully next chapter.

So, I know I said I'd do the power meter this chapter, but I had planned on only making it after the seals had been fully explained. And so, it'll be in the next chapter.

Heisetsu means "link" in japanese.

I can't think of anything else to say at this point, though I know I had something else I wanted to mention...

I'm sure I'll think of it later. Till next time.


	17. Chapter 17

_Previously_

She grit her teeth as the red chakra oozed itself over her body, until it covered her completely, at which point the pain that had her wincing faded into a numbing feeling. She stretched, grinning as she did so.

"Damn this feels good..."

She heard Naruto chuckle. "_Now _it feels good, just wait till later."

Tayuya grunted in indifference, instead choosing to dart forward towards the Iwa nin, branishing her new claw-like fingernails as she did so.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 16**

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he crossed the threshold of the hotel room that he, Tayuya and Ariya would be sleeping in that night.

They had traveled slower than the blond would have liked over the past few weeks, due mainly to Ariya's presence and the need for stealth to lose any pursuers, but he felt that Iwa wouldn't cross a Fire Country border just to get to them. Especially after having lost a sizable amount of ninja to them in just a few minutes.

No, he concluded, they would be far more cautious next time.

The constant flow of ethereal blue chakra that he'd become accustomed to managed to catch his eye. He idly followed its path back to his red headed girlfriend's shoulder as he sat down upon one of the beds in the room.

The fact that Tayuya could now use Kyuubi's chakra because of the seals was something he never would have imagined happening. All he'd intended to do was push a small amount of the demon's chakra into her body, assuming that it would overwhelm the seals in the process. Instead though, the blood factor had made them permanent and even able to sustain the link while the Kyuubi's potent chakra was running through them.

He smiled a disbelieving smile and rubbed the bridge of his nose, just then realizing that he was actually very tired... the bed seemed much more inviting now than it had when he entered the room.

"Blondie."

Or not.

He let out a halfhearted grunt as a response.

"You mind telling me what the fuck is going on with these damn seals?"

The blond blinked and sat up. Tayuya's foul mouth, which had become somewhat cleaner in Iwa, was returning in full force as they grew closer to Konoha. The city seemed to put her in a bad mood without even trying.

Naruto didn't blame her though. The attitudes that most of the civilians there took towards them would make even the sunniest person turn into a walking angst machine, he had actually caught himself sighing a lot more as they came closer and closer to their destination.

His shoulder being shaken by Tayuya broke Naruto out of his thoughts and, after a moment to collect himself, he started on his explanation.

"First off, these seals were only meant to sustain a link between us for a short amount of time, but because of all the unknowns when they're used to link two living targets, they ended up becoming permanent. Normally this kind of seal is just used to channel chakra into an object, like Konoha's walls or a specially made kunai, so I figured I'd have to make them stronger somehow to save you."

He took in a breath. "I ended up deciding to use blood to draw the seals, since it's much more durable than regular ink. I drew the seal on my shoulder in your blood and sealed it with your chakra, while using my blood and chakra for the one on you. I didn't actually know how they would react...it was really an act of desperation, I guess, anything to save you."

He threw a lopsided grin at Tayuya that earned him a soft smile, her nearly black eyes softened to a deep brown color, unwittingly reminding Naruto of why he cared for her so much.

"Anyway," he continued, "they ended up being a lot stronger than I had ever planned for. Apparently strong enough to allow you the use of Kyuubi's chakra."

He saw the red head shiver before she could suppress it.

"_The memory of her first experience with the bastard demon fox and how crippled she was after her first use of its chakra would do that to her."_

Naruto opened his mouth to ask if she was alright, but caught himself at the last second. She hated it when she was asked that and he didn't like it much himself either.

A sudden movement near the window caught the blond's attention. His eyes immediately narrowed dangerously while his hand started towards his weapon pouch.

Jiraiya of the sannin was able to move faster than anyone in the room had the ability to track though.

The older man was already behind Naruto with a hand on his shoulder by the time the blond's finger had hooked around the ring of a kunai.

"Attacking your favorite mentor?" Jiraiya moaned in an over dramatic fashion. "After all I've done for you!"

Naruto shrugged the pervert's hand off. "What'd you want old man?"

"Is it wrong for humble man such as myself to visit-"

"Yes, in your case anyway."

"Not even a thanks for getting those Iwa nin off your trail," Jiraiya grumbled, "I get no respect these days."

"You got-"

"Anyway!" Jiraiya all but yelled. "Lemme see those seals you did brat, I want to check it over."

He got only arched eyebrows as a response.

An annoyed look flashed across the hermit's face. "What? You don't know how close you could've come to blowing yourself up brat. I just want to make sure your work'll hold, unless you want to risk death by explosion."

Naruto sighed and started to pull his shirt off, resulting in a half victorious, half relieved smile to cross Jiraiya's face.

The aging sannin nodded and looked towards Tayuya.

"Come on, you too spitfire."

"In your fucking wet dreams shitstain!"

Jiraiya let out a boisterous laugh. "Maybe in _your _dreams kid, now let me check your damned seal."

"My seal is a fucking replica of blondie's! Why the hell do you need to check both you pedophilic asshat?"

"I am not-"

"Like hell you aren't!"

The white haired sannin slapped his hand over his face in frustration and turned towards a bare-chested Naruto. "Reason with your girlfriend brat."

The blond arched an eyebrow towards his partner, finding the obvious answer in her eyes. He shrugged. "I can check her seal after you look at mine, I'm a lot better with seals than you might think."

Jiraiya sighed, his age showing as a rare concerned expression flashed across his face. "I know you are, I've been keeping an eye on your throughout your time in Iwa, kid. You're better than both your father and I used to be at that age, I just wanted to be sure you didn't make any mistakes."

Naruto nodded and allowed a comfortable silence to fall over the room for a few moments. Ariya had fallen asleep on one of the beds before Jiraiya made his entrance and Tayuya was too preoccupied with simply glaring at the pervert.

"Well," Jiraiya said, suddenly clapping his hands to break the silence, "Let's get started shall we?"

The blond nodded again and retreated to the remaining empty bed in the room. He lay down on his back and shifted to get himself more comfortable as Jiraiya knelt down next to him and took a brush out of his pack. The white haired sannin then began tracing the seal with the dry brush, causing Tayuya to immediately become confused.

"What the hell are you doing pervert?" She spoke from where she had sat down on the bed next to Naruto.

Jiraiya's eye twitched. "A jutsu you ungrateful little brat. I'm copying this seal before I look it over so I have something to compare the results of my work to."

The red head fell silent after that, idly reaching out for Naruto's hand with her own. She quickly laced their fingers together and used her free hand to brush some of the rather long blond hair out of her partner's face.

The toad sannin watched the affectionate gestures with a hidden smile on his face. Naruto and Tayuya strongly reminded him of Minato and Kushina, and even though Kushina was far more quiet than Tayuya, the interactions between the pairs were the exact same.

He sighed as he set the completed copy of Naruto's seal aside for later and began his actual inspection. The kanji in the center was obviously based off the standard channeling seal with minor altercations that were meant to help with its job of transferring chakra between two living beings.

The seal demonstrated an understanding of fuinjutsu that Jiraiya hadn't reached until his mid-twenties. There were countless factors that had to be taken into consideration, such things like which modifications don't react well with each other and which ones simply cancel each other out. For Naruto to have accomplished something of this caliber at this stage in life...it spoke greatly of his potential. At this rate, he'd be a fully fledged expert by the time he was fifteen.

The toad sannin shook his head in disbelief. He truly was his father's son, and not just physically either.

A soft snore broke Jiraiya from his musings. He looked up to find the blond had fallen asleep, soothed by Tayuya's soft touch. The red head herself was actually fighting to stay awake at the moment, her head bobbing up and down in a lazy motion while one of her hands burrowed itself deeper in the blond hair of her partner.

The sannin allowed another smile to cross his face and made a few notes on the back of the seal's copy he'd made.

Naruto could check Tayuya's seal when they wake – the red head had finally succumbed to her body's wishes and fallen over on top of her partner – the corrections that needed to be made were minor anyway, nothing that would affect the seals in the near future.

With that, Jiraiya sighed and stood from his positon next to the bed. He stretched for a moment, focusing on remembering his favorite "attractions" to visit in this town, and turned towards the window.

But before he could leave, a certain detail he had previously overlooked of the girl in the other bed caught his eye.

"_Clan tattoos?" _He thought as his brow furrowed. _"Then why would there be seals..."_

The white haired sannin made his way over to the sleeping brunette, immediately finding that each of the five seals functioned in a way that wasn't too different from the seals on Naruto and Tayuya.

"_They channel chakra," _he thought as he lifted one of the girls arms in the air to inspect, _"one for each element. Fire and lightning on the arms, water on the mouth and earth and wind on the legs."_

Jiraiya blinked, his increasing confusion driving him to investigate the girl's situation further. He reached out and lifted up the brunette's shirt, just enough to give him a view of a seal on her abdomen, finding exactly what he thought might be there.

"_Wonder if they know she's a jinchuuriki as well," _the old man thought with a frown on his face; he'd have to pay more attention to what he was diverting attention from next time, rather than place it all on those he needed to divert from.

"_Well," _Jiraiya reflected as he sat on the edge of the girl's bed, _"the only demons I don't know the fate of are the five and seven tails." _He looked to the brunette, who at that moment frowned and shifted in her sleep.

"_Five tail." _He concluded as he got up to add his newest discovery to his note to Naruto and Tayuya.

The toad sannin finished his additions in only a few moments and would've been gone in only a few more, if not for the strained cry that sounded in the direction of the little girl's bed.

From his position near the window, Jiraiya turned around to find that the brunette was twisting and turning, clearly in the middle of a nightmare.

He sighed, cursing his conscious, and made his way back over to the bed. Once there, the white haired pervert picked up the tiny jinchuuriki in his arms and moved her over to the bed being shared by Naruto and Tayuya.

The small girl immediately curled into the closest source of warmth, Naruto's unoccupied side, and unconsciously fisted her hands in the cloth of his shirt.

Jiraiya nodded to himself as he sighed again, this time in relief, and left the room without another thought.

* * *

The following day saw Naruto, Tayuya and Ariya nearing Konoha by road at around noon. Naruto had checked Tayuya's seal over before they left, a task that caused many shared blushes and slightly awkward situations since the only thing that kept the red head from being completely bare above the waist were the wrappings she used to keep her developing breasts from causing any trouble when she moved.

Naruto was abruptly shaken from his recollection of the morning's events by something tugging on the sleeve of his shirt. He looked down to find Ariya looked at him with an expectant expression present on her face, obviously waiting for an answer to a question he had just missed.

Ariya was the cause behind another interesting event of the morning. He and Tayuya had both known she held a demon of some sort, but Naruto had never taken any time to figure out which one it was or what abilities it gave her. Because of that fact, it had come as a surprise to both Konoha nin to learn that she held the five tailed demon and gained affinities for every element as well as incredible regenerative capabilities due to the demon's chakra.

"Naruto-nii!"

The blond blinked and looked back down at the brunette by his side...apparently he had gotten lost in his thoughts again; Tayuya seemed to think the whole situation was funny, if the smirk on her face and shaking of her shoulders was any indication.

"What is it Ariya?" Naruto answered, only half paying attention as he jabbed his girlfriend's side with his finger.

"Is that it?" The brunette asked, pointing to a city off in the distance.

"Yeah, that's Konoha," he replied after checking for himself that the gates in the distance were those of his home.

Satisfied, Ariya turned back towards the nearing city and tried to take in as much detail about it while she approached the gates. The small girl remained completely oblivious to the increasingly emotionless faces that her self-proclaimed brother and sister were gaining, too caught up in the excitement of seeing a new place to pay attention to much of anything else.

Konoha and its surrounding land was vastly different from Iwagakure, after all. The small brunette had never seen forests dense enough to hinder vision about ten feet in and something as spectacular as the Hokage Mountain.

The rest of the short journey passed in a blur of excitement for Ariya, and before she knew it, the gates guards were addressing Naruto.

"Papers," The chuunin stated, a bored expression covering his face.

The blond produced the requested documents and handed them over to the man. They passed the guard's check and a few minutes later, Naruto, Tayuya and Ariya were heading for the Hokage tower.

* * *

"Mission successfully completed," a slightly worse for wear Hatake Kakashi stated, his pupils standing obediently behind him. They'd just returned from what was their second C-rank mission, a fact that Sasuke, Hinata and Shino were proud of. Fresh genin usually didn't complete anything other than D-rank missions for at least a year after they graduated, they had not only attempted two C-ranks, but completed them successfully as well.

Saritobi nodded and looked towards the trio of genin.

"You should be extremely proud of yourselves. The fact that Konoha genin can and will complete C-rank missions on a regular basis will not go unnoticed by our clients."

All three of them held their silence, but nodded in acknowledgement.

Satisfied, the Sandaime looked back to Kakashi.

"Your team will not receive any missions for the next two weeks so you can properly prepare for the upcoming chuunin exams." He paused. "I assume you are still giving them the chance to compete?"

The white haired jounin nodded. "They're very adamant about testing their skills, I believe Sasuke has two of his fellow genin in mind-"

"Naruto! Tayuya! You can't just-"

"Oh fuck off shitstain! And what're the rest of you cock sucking whores staring at!?"

Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his eyes. "It appears Naruto and Tayuya have just arrived to check in with me..."

"Well," Kakashi started, a sympathetic look in his visible eye, "if that's all..."

"No, wait here. Your team and team Hayate are both special cases in these chuunin exams, I have a few things I wish to speak of and I'd rather do it now instead of waiting until later."

The white haired jounin nodded and took a step back to fall in line with his students just as the office door swung open.

An irritated Tayuya entered first, quickly followed by a wide eyed brunette that Sarutobi had never seen before. Naruto entered last, quietly closing the door behind him.

The Sandaime's eyes immediately narrowed in surprise upon observing the newest additions to the office, focusing mainly on the chakra flowing between their shoulders. He swallowed heavily and nodded towards the bright blue presence.

"Please tell me you two aren't the ones they're calling Heisetsu..."

Their faces showed their confusion clearly, causing Sarutobi to sigh and continue in a much wearier voice after pulling out the most recent bingo book. He flipped through it for a few moments and stopped once he found what he was looking for.

"Do you two realize what will happen once Iwa hears that the pair of nin capable of killing an assorted group of chuunin and jounin twenty-five strong are from Konoha?" The man asked, his eyes unblinkingly focused on Naruto and Tayuya as he held open the bingo book for the room to see.

A drawing featuring a red headed female and a blond male linked by blue-red chakra took up one of the pages while the other held general information that Iwa had managed to gather. At the top of the second page was the word "Heisetsu" in bold letters. There was also a rough sketch of what the two looked like in their cloaks.

"Shit..." Kakashi muttered under his breath.

Sarutobi held his intimidating gaze on the increasingly pale figures of Naruto and Tayuya for a few moments more, but eventually closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could already feel a strong headache coming on...

"We were being influenced by the Kyuubi's chakra," Naruto murmured, his eyes darting around the room as he recalled the events of their escape, "but even so, how could we be so stupid! Something as unique as a link of flowing chakra between us, and not once either of us thought to hide it somehow."

"The villagers and ninja have already seen us," Tayuya muttered.

The Sandaime glanced out one of the numerous windows in his office. Noon. That meant at least half the residents of Konoha most likely had knowledge of the chakra link. It'd probably only be a week at most before word got to Iwa. Attempting to keep those who had seen the link would only make the news travel faster...

The aging man abruptly stood up. "Kakashi, can I trust you to fill in your students about the procedures for registering for the exams?"

The white haired man nodded.

"Good," Sarutobi stated, "then you are dismissed; as for the two of you-"

He stopped short upon remembering the presence of the small brunette and turned a questioning stare to Naruto and Tayuya.

"She was being mistreated in her village, we couldn't just leave her..." came Tayuya's mumbled response.

"And just what village is she from?"

"...Iwa."

The Sandaime clenched his fists shut in frustration. "How could the two of you be so stupid! When I sent you on this mission, I did so with confidence in the fact that you would be able to make rational decisions about your actions, but I see now that I was clearly mistaken. Going as far to take an Iwa citizen-"

"Jinchuuriki," Naruto corrected quietly, his face set in what looked to be resignation.

Sarutobi fell silent again and simply turned to walk out of the room, motioning for them to follow him without a glance back. He made his way out of the tower at a pace many would have thought impossible for a man of his age, commanding the ninja currently acting as his secretary to inform all council members that there was to be an emergency meeting as he did so.

Once clear of the tower, the elderly man took off towards the building where the council held meetings, again without making sure that the two genin were following him.

It was a quick journey in the end, it took only minutes to reach the large dome like structure that was capable of acting as a temporary prison as well. It was deliberately made to be relatively close to any area of Konoha.

Sarutobi didn't pause as he landed in front of the entrance to the building. He walked swiftly and with a purpose through the main doors, leaving Naruto, Tayuya and Ariya nearly running to keep up. Once they were inside the main lobby, the three of them found the Sandaime had stopped to wait for them by the front desk.

Before they even reached him, he spoke up, his faced schooled into the perfect representation of seriousness.

"The girl," he said as he nodded towards Ariya, "will have to wait out here; you two will follow me."

The tone of his voice left absolutely no room for argument.

He turned without another word, unknowingly reminding everyone in the general vicinity just why he qualified to hold the position of Hokage, the strongest ninja in the village.

Naruto and Tayuya followed after him with pale faces. The fact that they had been so careless in their actions and the possible damage it could do to Konoha just now sinking in. Granted, they couldn't care less if some of the population died, but there were people here that had done nothing to harm or hinder them in any way. They didn't deserve to suffer because of the actions of only two ninja.

Sarutobi's voice broke the blond and the red head out of their depressing line of thought.

"We're arrived," he stated as he heaved a sigh and visibly calmed himself.

The Sandaime then opened one of the double doors of the council room and held it there for Naruto and Tayuya to enter the room through. His eyes held a hint of regret in them, but the dominant emotion was resignation.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, this chapter's late...obviously. I don't really have an excuse, but the last half of it _did _take a ridiculous amount of time for me to write. Nonetheless, my apologies for missing my self imposed deadline.

So many things to respond to in this chapter's A/N...

First off, let me applaud one reviewers insight. He/she managed to predict a couple things that I honestly didn't expect my readers to figure out. I'm sure you'll be able to tell who they are.

To all the questions on the chuunin exam and the team numbers, you'll have to wait an see.

The acts of violence/hate in the story have been called bothersome, nasty and unnecessary. Well, the first two are opinions so I can't really do anything about that. Your opinion is your own, but the warning I have in the summary ("M for language and violence") is there for a reason. As for them being unnecessary, they are certainly necessary to the story and if you want to know how/why, ask me again and I'll write up my reasons next chapter. They're a bit long to put in here if I don't even know whether or not the reviewer will see them.

And finally, the meter I've been going on about for far too long.

_(The previous one is italicized)_

1: Academy Student.

2: Genin

3: Chuunin

4: Jounin

5: Sannin/Kage

6: god level (Kyuubi)

**Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto**

Taijutsu: _3.5--_4.0

Genjutsu: _2.0—_2.0

Ninjutsu: _3.5—_3.5

Kinjutsu: _4.5—_4.5

Fuinjutsu: _2.5—_4.5

Weapons: _2.5—_3.0

Stamina: _5.5—_5.5

Speed: _4.0_--4.5

Chakra Control: _3.0—_4.0

Bloodline: _0.0—_0.0

_**Overall: 3.1 (Rookie Chuunin level) **_**– 3.55 ****_(Mid-chuunin level)_**

**Tayuya**

Taijutsu: _3.5—_3.5

Genjutsu: _4.5—_5.0

Ninjutsu: _3.0—_3.5

Kinjutsu: _3.0—_3.0

Fuinjutsu: _0.5—_2.0

Weapons: _3.5—_4.0

Stamina: _3.5—_5.5

Speed: _3.5—_4.0

Chakra Control: _4.5—_5.0

Bloodline: _0.0—_0.0

_**Overall: 2.95 (Veteran Genin/Rookie Chuunin level)**_** – 3.50 ****_(Mid-chuunin level)_**

I decided to exclude the Kyuubi meters until next time, since there'll be two of em now, and this A/N is already long enough...

I've already started the next chapter, and I _will _be getting it out by next Sunday, so see ya then.


	18. Chapter 18

_Previously_

Sarutobi's voice broke the blond and the red head out of their depressing line of thought.

"We're arrived," he stated as he heaved a sigh and visibly calmed himself.

The Sandaime then opened one of the double doors of the council room and held it there for Naruto and Tayuya to enter the room through. His eyes held a hint of regret in them, but the dominant emotion was resignation.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 18**

Kayero Shiraku was a man that had been born into one of the richest trading clans Konoha had to offer. He had been given everything he could ever dream of having as a child, spoiled by various caretakers that had been hired to take over the duties of a parent. His own, after all, were far too busy overseeing clan trading business.

His childhood continued in an endless cycle of going through one caretaker after another, each one eventually quiting because of the young boy's attitude and arrogance. It was in this way that Shiraku grew to an age where he was ready to begin training to be the next clan head.

Tragedy struck before he was ready to take over though. His father was killed by a band of mercenaries while traveling to the fire capital for business.

Shiraku, being the eldest of his siblings, was then immediately initiated as clan head.

His mother had helped him for the first few years of his reign, but she too saw death far earlier than anyone had planned.

And so, Shiraku was left to his own devices and the advice of the clan elders when it came to running clan matters.

Predictably, the business done by the family fell, their wealth falling along with it.

Shiraku remained largely oblivious to his failures as head though, he would always find someone else to blame for every ryou lost. It wasn't like he enjoying being head, after all. It was full of boring responsibilities like being on the council.

A task that he was just rudely woken up by a servant to fulfill.

So it was with a noticeable scowl of unhappiness on his face that he made his way to the building where the council meant.

It was a large structure shaped just like the Hokage tower; the council chamber inside was a circular room with an intricately inscribed dome ceiling. Three rows of wooden benches that stood high off the ground, the lowest being ten feet above the floor, outlined the half of the room that was opposite the single entrance.

It was in these benches that several figures sat conversing amongst themselves.

The first and lowest row held the civilian part of the council. The heads of various trading clans, such as the Haruno, Kayero and Takayumi, were the major names that belonged to this portion of Konoha's council. Former clan heads were also allowed to sit in this row to act as advisors.

The second and middle row held all the heads of the ninja clans that Konoha had to offer. Most of them were already sitting quietly in their seats, their traveling capabilities as ninja far out pacing any civilian.

Shiraku sent them a sneer as he entered the room and went straight to his seat. Once there he immediately put his feet up on his portion of the circular desk in front of him and waited lazily for the Hokage to arrive and take his position at the head of the third row.

He didn't have to wait long, for not thirty seconds later Sarutobi himself entered the room, followed by two figures that were easily recognizable to Shiraku as the demon and that girl who always hung around him.

The Sandaime pointed to a pair of chairs that sat on the floor in the middle of the room and made his way up to his seat without looking back.

* * *

Naruto stared blankly ahead of where he sat with Tayuya in the middle of the council room, his earlier guilt over the current situation having disappeared for the most part. His thoughts were more along the lines of resignation and worry for Ariya now.

He sighed and tightened the grip he had on Tayuya's hand in an attempt to reassure her. He saw the edge of her lips twitch upwards and felt her hand shift under his. She interlaced their fingers and brought their hands up to her lap.

It was clear that she was just as nervous as Naruto himself was.

"Silence!"

The Sandaime's voice did exactly what the old man requested of the council. All the noise slowly died down in anticipation for the reasons behind the emergency meeting and what role the local jinchuuriki and his girlfriend played in it.

Sarutobi exhaled deeply. "Members of the Konoha council, I have called this meeting to seek your opinion and advice on an extremely important matter." He paused briefly, eyes flitting over everyone in the room. "Iwa, as of about one month ago, has a valid reason to wage war against Konoha."

Understandably the civilian portion of the council broke out into loud whispers, accusations already being thrown around at Naruto and Tayuya's role in the complications. Many of the ninja heads looked visibly unnerved and took to staring at the Hokage with questioning glances.

Sarutobi raised both his arms to quiet the room. "Several months ago I sent Naruto and Tayuya," he gestured to them with one of his arms, "to Iwagakure in an attempt to prove certain rumors of a possible attack on Konoha wrong. They will give a full report in front of the council in a short moment, but from what I've managed to learn of the happenings thus far, we could very well find ourselves at war with Iwagakure within but a few months."

The old man swallowed before he continued. "Naruto and Tayuya only ran into complications in their mission during their last week in Iwa. They ended up having to fight their way out and will likely be linked to the mission by Iwa in less than a week's time."

He sighed heavily and sat down in his chair, gesturing to the two nin in the middle of the room as he did so.

Naruto stood up. "Like the old man said, the mission went flawlessly up until our last week. Tayuya and I had stolen information on their ninja population without getting caught, but their version of ANBU managed to get inside our room while we were distracted. They ended up finding the copies we made of the information and confronted us about it. I fought them off while Tayuya prepared for our sudden departure-"

"You managed to not only keep up with, but beat an ANBU level shinobi?" Hyuuga Hiashi questioned.

The blond nodded. "I had to tap into to the Kyuubi's power, but-"

This time the head of the Takayumi clan interrupted. "The Kyuubi's power is leaking out of the seal!?"

"Is the demon escaping?!"

"The Kyuubi must have taken over that brat's mind!" Shiraku stated.

Naruto grit his teeth in annoyance and raised his voice over the rest of the commotion the clan heads were causing. "The Kyuubi has absolutely no chance of escaping!"

He meant each pair of eyes in the room as silence reigned.

"Once a seal has been made and applied to an object it cannot be weakened. It's either working or not. There is no in between." He paused for a moment. "Think about it, the idea of the seal weakening is like erasing half of a regular seal used to hold everyday shinobi weapons, such as a kunai. If part of the seal is gone, it won't do its job, will it?"

The blond had ended up glaring at anyone who would meet his eyes by the end of his rant. The fact that this kind of stupidity was even shown by clan heads amazed him, regardless of whether or not fuinjutsu was a subject that few shinobi knew much about.

A comforting pressure on his forearm drew him out of his anger induced silence. Tayuya was guiding him back into his seat while she herself stood.

"I'll finish up blondie, but you'll have to tell these spoiled fuck sticks about the seals and the link it created."

The blond nodded.

Satisfied, the red head turned towards a pensive looking group of clan heads. "Like blondie said before, the Iwa ANBU managed to get into our room while we were distracted. That distraction was Iwa's local jinchuuriki, beaten to an inch of her life by those cowards and thrown through a window of our shop that we were using as an excuse to be in Iwa."

Tayuya fell silent for a moment, lifting her hand to the seal on her shoulder and idly watching the chakra flow around her fingers.

"What blondie said was true, the Iwa nin ended up running with their tails between their fucking legs, but not before they managed to inflict a fatal wound on me." She smirked to herself. "My fuinjutsu geek of a partner managed to save my life by doing this," she waved a hand at the chakra link, "and forcing some of that shit eating furball's chakra into my system.

After that, we took the jinchuuriki kid that Iwa hated, reminded us of ourselves at a younger age you see, and ran. Over twenty Iwa nin eventually caught up with and cornered us though." She paused, silently enjoying the hints of shame on a couple of the faces in the room. "We killed them."

"...And with a trait as unique as that chakra link you've got..." Naru Shikaku muttered.

"Now you see our problem," Sarutobi stated as he stood again. Tayuya, understanding that her time to speak was over, sat back down next to a visibly calmer Naruto.

"We need to decide how to proceed. Do we wait for Iwa to make the first move, or act before they connect the dots? Do we punish two of our ninja or simply exile them?" The elderly man shook his head. "Whatever we decide upon, we must be completely sure of ourselves. This is dangerous and unstable territory, Iwa still holds grudges against us, after all."

"Why not simply kill them? Surely that would appease Iwagakure." Shiraku stated, a grin that looked a little too vicious for the situation at home on his face. Personally, the man had no reason to hate Naruto and Tayuya, but being the shallow bastard he was, he went along with the general population in their feelings for the pair.

Aburame Shibi, from one of the more recent clans to join Konoha, spoke up in the monotone voice that he was quickly becoming known for.

"If they are executed before any word from Iwa is received, we would be acting in an extremely rash manner. If Iwagakure wishes something else to be done with the two of them, and they are already dead, what will we do then?"

"Imprisonment?" The Haruno clan head spoke up.

"Imprisonment would be meaningless in the eyes of Iwa. You would do well to remember that these two nin also did nothing to harm Konoha intentionally, we have no reason to punish them ourselves," Hiashi said. His pupil-less eyes held a wary look, as if he was remaining unbiased simply because of the circumstances of the situation.

Naruto refrained from snorting. While his respect for the Hyuuga head just went up, he couldn't help but think of how different the citizens of Konoha might treat him if they knew of his heritage. That heritage brought many enemies though, enemies that the blond certainly wasn't ready to face. For now, he'd just have to continue dealing with it.

"I believe our best option at this point is to confine the two of them to the village until Iwa acts," Homura, one of Sarutobi's old teammates and advisors, said.

Koharu nodded in agreement. "As Hyuuga-san stated previously, Konoha herself has no reason to punish these two nin. The best plan of action we can take is to simply wait for Iwagakure and the Tsuchikage to make a move."

Most of the clan heads had been swayed in favor of confinement at this point, so the Sandaime took a vote on it. It passed.

A few short minutes later found Naruto, Tayuya and Ariya walking aimlessly along Konoha's streets. The blond sighed. "I'm surprised that so few of the clan heads let their emotions influence their decisions."

His partner nodded, looking to the sky as she did so. "It's starting to get late. We need to get home and I don't want to stay on my feet any longer, hurt like shit from all that damn running we did from those Iwa nin."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, but Tayuya beat him to it. "Yeah the fox's chakra healed them, but they're still sore as fuck."

The blond nodded and chuckled to himself, he'd forgotten how much he enjoyed his red headed girlfriend's mouth. He glanced over at the body part in question, just in time to catch her licking her lips.

He grinned.

Definitely. He enjoyed Tayuya's mouth for several reasons.

* * *

The day after the trial, Naruto and Tayuya decided to head to a training field so they could brush up on the skills that had become so dulled during their time in Iwa. They walked side by side, joined at their hands, while Ariya trailed a few feet behind them.

The pair had decided to go about their lives as if nothing was wrong. Until they heard from Iwa they were confined within the village walls, after all. Instead of twiddling their thumbs waiting for the rock nin, they might as well work to become stronger; there was a chance that they would become missing nin because of the situation, and if that happened, they'd need all the strength they could get.

Naruto idly shifted the scroll from under his right arm to his left. The group of three had run into a slightly panicked Jiraiya just minutes ago as he made his way to the Hokage. The white haired sannin had given the blond a scroll on a technique called 'Rasengan' and a brief explanation about it before hurrying away towards the Hokage tower again.

The Kyuubi jinchuuriki extremely anxious to begin working on the technique that his father invented, maybe even improve it with one of the chakra elements.

He grinned at the possibilities as he and Tayuya walked into a clearing that served as a training ground. They were slightly surprised to find four people already there though.

Aburame Shino was crouched along the edge of the forest, holding and talking to what they assumed was bugs on his fingers.

Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Hinata were sparring in the middle of the clearing while Kakashi stood off to the side and pointed out things they could do to improve. Sasuke, it seemed, clearly had the upper hand in the fight and appeared to be trying half heartedly in an attempt to prolong the spar.

Naruto nudged Tayuya with his elbow, a half excited, half thoughtful look on his face. "Can you hold this scroll for me for a while?"

The red head nodded. She already had a good idea at what her boyfriend wanted to do.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Naruto made his way over to where Kakashi was and spoke to the man in whispers for a short moment. The white haired jounin then nodded and made his way over to Sasuke and Hinata.

"Alright, that's enough you two." Both of them stopped and turned to their sensei, Hinata was audibly panting while Sasuke just looked slightly winded.

"Hinata," Kakashi addressed, "you'll need to work on your stamina more. You've improved on it by leaps and bounds over the past few months, but it could still use some improvement. Go regain some of your strength and once you feel up to it, do your clan exercises while standing on water."

The girl nodded and after what seemed to be a sigh of relief, walked off in the direction of her other teammate.

Kakashi then turned to Sasuke. "As for you, I've got a new opponent for you to face."

One of the Uchiha's eyebrows arched in confusion as he started looking around the clearing for any possible opponents. He hadn't heard Naruto, Tayuya and Ariya enter the clearing, so when he found the latter two his other eyebrow joined the first in disappeared beneath his hairline.

Tayuya shook her head though, leading to Sasuke's eyes falling on Naruto. He smirked.

The blond hadn't dressed for any possible spars, he'd come ready to train. As such, his clothes were a bit heavier than he would've liked.

"_It'll do,"_ he thought as he finished up stretching.

"Might wanna get to using that Sharingan, Uchiha," Naruto stated with a smirk of his own, "you're gonna need it."

Sasuke snorted. "After all those months you spent in Iwa without training, somehow I doubt that."

The blond didn't reply verbally, instead he went through a short chain of hand seals that signaled the use of one of the few fire jutsu he knew. A fireball erupted from his mouth, quickly followed by a seal less Daitoppa.

The two jutsu impacted in mid air on their way to Sasuke, causing the formerly small fire ball to explode into a giant wave of extremely fast fire.

The Uchiha's eyes widened as a grin appeared on his face.

"Alright..." he whispered, the signature eyes of his clan appearing where his black pupils once were.

He dashed around the incoming fire ball and instinctively rolled right, just as Naruto's leg swung through the air where his head was moments earlier. He got to his feet quickly and charged the blond.

Sasuke's first punch was deflected, his second was caught and used to throw the dark haired boy through the air. The Uchiha twisted around another Daitoppa while he was falling and started on his own chain of hand seals.

"Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

Naruto rolled out of the way of the large fireball and pulled out a kunai with one of his special explosive seals attached as he came to his feet. He whipped the kunai toward the Uchiha.

Sasuke jumped away from the kunai and prepared to charge Naruto as soon as his feet hit the ground, but the explosion made by the seal was much larger than he thought it would be.

The Uchiha stumbled and, before he could regain his balance, his blond opponent was on him. He dodged a punch that he knew would've landed on his gut and tried to dodge the following kick that would come at his face. He may have known what to do, thanks to his Sharingan, but his body couldn't react in time.

Naruto's kick landed squarely on the boy's cheek, sending him stumbling backwards. A quick follow up Daitoppa impacted him as well, taking him off his feet and throwing him several meters. He landed in a heap on the ground.

Sasuke sighed and got to his feet once his vision had stopped spinning.

"You got round one then," he said as he pulled out four weighted shuriken, flame-resistant wire attached to each of them.

The blond facing him only grinned, lowering himself into a balanced stance, and made a few kage bunshin.

Sasuke smirked and threw one of the shuriken at a tree behind him, he then threw two more at trees a good fifty meters away on his left and right. The final one was thrown at a tree on the opposite side of the clearing.

Naruto furrowed his brow. The wire wasn't being held by Sasuke, instead each shuriken was attached to the ring of a single kunai in the middle of the clearing. The weapons ended up making an X shape.

The Uchiha abruptly dashed forward while sending a fireball at the kunai in the center of the wires. The fire impacted the weapon and immediately spread to each of the four wires attached to the shuriken.

The blond narrowed his eyes and went to intercept Sasuke. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good.

Sasuke jumped over Naruto's attempt to knock his legs out from under him and blocked the following punch, never breaking his sprint towards the center kunai.

"Damnit," Naruto cursed as he jumped away from the suspended kunai. Sasuke had arrived at his destination and promptly jumped on top of the kunai. The burning wire strained slightly under his weight, but held firm.

The Uchiha grinned. "This round goes to me."

The blond snorted. His clones were currently at work in the surrounding forest and if the Uchiha thought it was over already, he'd be unpleasantly surprised very soon.

Sasuke lifted one arm, directed towards one of the wires closest to Naruto, and moved it to a wire on the opposite side of his opponent.

Naruto was confused at first, but when fire from one of the wires suddenly shot towards him, he knew what was going on.

The Uchiha was controlling the fire on the wires at a level that most jounin couldn't match.

The blond grit his teeth and ducked under the wave of fire, immediately sprinting towards Sasuke once he regained his footing.

The dark haired boy sent another wave of fire hurling towards him though, forcing him cut off his charge.

Naruto quickly found himself on the defensive from that point on, dodging the fire and whatever weapons Sasuke could throw in between. Whenever he tried to retreat into the forest, fire would erupt in front of him, forcing him back into the clearing.

* * *

A different Naruto, hidden just beyond sight in the forest surrounding the clearing, grinned.

Four seals had just been finished on the four trees that held the weighted shuriken. The clones couldn't get at the weapons themselves because they were just that, clones. The shuriken were stuck deep into the tree and the fire would surely end their existence before they could pull the abnormally heavy weapons out.

Fuinjutsu provided a remedy to that problem though.

The blond smirked and placed his hands on the seal, igniting it simultaneously with the other three.

Moments later, four trees were incinerated from the heat, causing the wire Sasuke had been standing upon to buckle.

The dark haired boy looked shocked for a moment before realizing what happened. He twisted in mid air and landed on his feet, facing the Naruto that had been dodging his fire while ignoring the other four blonds that had just emerged from the forest.

Sasuke quickly sent several shuriken flying at his opponent, but stumbled in surprise when the whiskered boy made no move to dodge them.

The weapons impacted Naruto, but instead of the expected blood, the blond just burst into smoke.

"_A clone!" _Sasuke realized, turning as he did so to face the other blonds.

Before he could even fully turn though, he felt something impact the back of his head, and his vision suddenly went black.

* * *

**A/N: **So, there you have it. I ended up being late on this one (something that seems to be happening a lot lately eh?), but this time I've actually got a reason. Half of this chapter was originally completely different. I was going to have Naruto and Tayuya be exiled before, but as I was writing this, I figured you all would appreciate a chuunin exams much more. So, I erased half of it and rewrote it.

This was actually finished on Saturday evening, but uploading function was giving me trouble. The result: Two additional days of wait time. Anyway...

Heisetsu means "link" in english.

To the reviewer with the question about whether I mean kinjutsu or kenjutsu in the meters. Kinjutsu is the right one, and Tayuya's skill is only at a chuunin level because of her familiarity with Kage Bunshin. Being around Naruto enough would allow her to learn quite a bit about it, after all.

Now then, I believe I promised a meter with the Kyuubi's influence included. I've forgone included the previous one because it was only done for Naruto.

1: Academy Student.

2: Genin

3: Chuunin

4: Jounin

5: Sannin/Kage

6: god level (Kyuubi)

**Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto (Two Tails)**

Taijutsu: 5.5

Genjutsu: 2.25

Ninjutsu: 5.0

Kinjutsu: 5.0

Fuinjutsu: 3.5*

Weapons: 4.0

Stamina: 6.0

Speed: 6.0

Chakra Control: 4.0

Bloodline: 0.0

**Overall: 4.125 (Rookie Jounin Level)****

**Tayuya**

Taijutsu: 4.25

Genjutsu: 5.5

Ninjutsu: 4.5

Kinjutsu: 4.0

Fuinjutsu: 1.0*

Weapons: 5.5

Stamina: 6.0

Speed: 6.0

Chakra Control: 5.0

Bloodline: 0.0

**Overall: 4.175 (Rookie Jounin Level)****

*Fuinjutsu skill decreases as more of Kyuubi's power is used. (This is due to the increased reliance on base primal instincts that the Kyuubi chakra causes) In other words, their thoughts aren't coherent enough to think about and draw complex seals.

** The reactions that the Kyuubi chakra causes on enemies must also be considered. (Fear, irrationality, panic, etc...)


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** So, how many of you thought I'd abandoned this?

Don't worry, I don't ever plan on abandoning this story, I plan to finish, no matter how long it takes me.

I'm sure you're all eager to get to reading though, especially with the wait I put you through for this one...

A warning though, this chapter contains darker themes and a good amount of violence.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 19**

_**The Chuunin Exams**_

_**Present**_

Calm blue eyes regarded the burning wreckage in front of them with an impassive gaze. Buildings lay in piles of broken stone and splintered, smoldering wood for as far as the eye could see. Bodies were scattered carelessly across the many streets and dark foreboding storm clouds choked the ground of the sun's natural light.

The stench of rotting flesh and burning skin hung in the air like a thick, eye watering miasma. Blood from men and women, regardless of age, was peppered across the ground. A depressing and eerie silence had taken hold of the immediate area, the quiet that would inevitably come after a storm.

Few living beings, human or not, could be found at the scene. The environment was just about as far from pleasant as it could get, after all.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto seemed largely unaffected by the carnage though. He stood atop the unrecognizable remains of the once proud Hokage Mountain, surveying what was left of Konohagakure.

"_This wasn't supposed to happen..." _He thought numbly, his eyes flitting over the rubble that was once his and Tayuya's apartment building.

He sighed and shook his head, tearing his eyes away from the smoldering ruin in front of him and tracing the familiar link of chakra over to his partner.

She sat slumped over against the base of a tree, her breathing heavy and labored. She had her arms wrapped around her bandaged midsection and her jaw was constantly clenched in pain; dried tear tracks stained her cheeks and her red hair was matted with blood.

"_Her blood," _Naruto bit his lip as he made his way over to her.

He laid a hand on her shoulder and knelt down next to her, using his other hand to softly tilt her chin upward. The blond silently pressed his lips to hers, they were just as soft as they usually were and still caused a pleasant shiver to course through him, but now they were quivering uncontrollably, evidence of the struggle against her pain Tayuya was going through.

Naruto pulled back, caressing the red head's cheek slightly, and sighed deeply.

"S-," Tayuya started in a voice much more subdued than her usual tone, but stopped abruptly as a fresh wave of pain swept over her. "Sorry!" she gasped out.

Her blond partner shook his head, responding with a soft "Not your fault..."

He shivered. A sudden flash of the battle that had taken place just three weeks before causing extremely unwelcome emotions to assault him. Helplessness. Panic. Fear. Confusion.

The blond swallowed heavily, it had all started out so normally too...

* * *

_Eight weeks earlier_

Tayuya leveled the paper in front of her with an annoyed stare, silently willing it to completely fill itself out for her. When nothing happened, she threw in a sneer for good measure.

The paper, however, remained mockingly blank on the desk in front of her.

She slumped, defeated, in her chair with a sigh. When she thought of the chuunin exams before, she didn't really expect them to be an actual ink-and-paper exam... She'd been spending most of her free time training, only to find out that the training she was doing wasn't the kind of training she needed.

The red head slouched further in her chair with an annoyed grunt and resigned herself to whatever fate failing the exam brought upon her. The worst they could do was disqualify her and Naruto, and judging by the way the blond was sleeping at that moment, he probably wouldn't care.

Tayuya smirked to herself and tilted her chair back while making a largely exaggerated motion of throwing her feet up on the desk in front of her, right on top of her test. She silently relished the looks of annoyance the action garnered from the chuunin helpers.

She snorted in amusement and lazily pointed a finger at the paper underneath her feet. A barely visible string-like strand of chakra, colored the same as the link connecting her to Naruto, emerged from her fingertip and made its way towards the exam. Once it was connected, Tayuya jerked her hand backwards.

A loud ripping sound broke the dead silence of the testing room so suddenly that it caused many to jump, it even woke up Naruto.

The red head raised her hand, an entirely too sweet smile plastered on her face. "I accidentally ripped my test proctor-san, can I have a new one?"

Ibiki growled under his breath in annoyance but nodded to one of his assistants nonetheless. A new test was placed in front of Tayuya within seconds.

She flashed Naruto a grin before she returned to her previous position, feet on the desk, slouched in her chair and hands behind her head, and started to look for something else to fight off her boredom.

After several minutes of searching, the girl concluded that there was nothing else to do but wait for the end of the exam, as such, she quickly became lost in thought.

The weeks leading up to the chuunin exams were filled with anticipation for Iwa's possible response and a small amount of paranoia. Nonetheless, she and Naruto carried on as if nothing was any different, for the most part.

Blondie had learned the Rasengan in just over one week, due to no small amount of shadow clones, and went on to start training with his wind affinity with a devotion that only that spandex wearing eyebrow freak had for his sensei. He wouldn't tell her the reasons for his sudden fanatical interest in his preferred element, he _did _work with it nearly fifteen hours a day, after all, but Tayuya had managed to learn that it had something to do with the Rasengan.

That filthy white haired pervert had been talking to blondie a lot more lately too. The old man kept babbling on about seals that Tayuya couldn't comprehend with the blond in whispers and waving about a three pronged kunai that seemed to be littered with several tiny markings.

Tayuya wasn't stupid. She knew what that kunai was, or at least its significance. It was essential to the Hirashin, a jutsu that made the Yondaime Hokage famous among Konoha nin and infamous among Iwa nin. If Naruto learned how to use that jutsu...

She shuddered and brought herself back to reality. There was still just under a half hour left in the duration of the exam, something she'd yet to even make an attempt to complete ever since she first read over it. She leaned back in her chair and proceeded to search for something else to distract her.

It took her only a short minute or two to find a few mirrors on the ceiling that she could move with her chakra strings. The fact that she would be messing up someone else's way of cheating only made the activity more fun, not quite as much fun as toying with her puppets though...

Nonetheless, Tayuya found herself grinning as she made the mirrors swivel and rotate sporadically. She could practically sense the frustration coming from the nin using them previously.

Her interference continued for another few minutes, during which the mirrors began squeaking louder and louder as the red head's invisible chakra string fought against a slim ninja wire for control. Eventually one of the proctors called out, "Number 72, you and your teammates are disqualified. Please leave the room immediately."

Tayuya, still reclining back in her chair, turned her head just enough to see a brunette with her hair pulled up into buns stand and shoot her a death glare. The embarrassed shade of red her face had taken on made it look much less intimidating, but the red head decided to throw her a shit eating grin anyway.

With another distraction now gone, the girl was left searching for something else to do. She briefly contemplated using the mirrors to cheat, but decided against it. The proctors were surely watching them more closely now.

She sighed and eventually allowed her thoughts to drift back to the previous month again.

While Naruto had been working with his affinity and the Rasengan, she herself had started something completely new to augment her existing ninja skills. She'd never been much of a close combat fighter in her history of being a ninja, her daggers were really only there as a last line of defense, so the idea of having something else fight in close quarters for her appealed to the red head greatly.

When she'd voiced this line of thought to their sensei, Hayate, he had gotten her a scroll that covered the basics of puppetry from the library available to those of chuunin status and above. Not only that, but he had given Tayuya the idea to incorporate her dagger style of fighting in with the puppet.

She had grinned at the possibilities in front of her and dove into the scroll head first, but not before suggesting that Hayate turn around and deal with the angry looking ANBU behind him. Of all the things Tayuya expected to happen, the ANBU pulling her mask off and firmly planting a kiss on the sword wielding jounin's lips whilst berating him for slacking off in his planning of the chuunin exams was definitely not one of them.

Her lips quirked up at the memory of all the teasing she'd done after that. Of course he'd promptly shut her up by asking if she knew whether or not Naruto's 'stamina' had uses outside fighting, she'd blushed and stammered out denials that went unheard; he was too busy laughing.

A voice suddenly rang out across the room that served to break Tayuya from her thoughts.

"All right brats, time for the tenth question..."

* * *

_**Present**_

Naruto turned his tired blue eyes to where Ariya was nervously fidgeting with the hem of her tattered shirt a couple yards away. The girl was nothing short of terrified by what had happened over the past month and still happening now. She certainly hadn't had it easy growing up, that was understatement really, but her suffering had always occurred while she was under the influence of a control seal. That specific seal not only forces its victim to obey the user's commands, but it also dulls the victim's awareness of their surroundings just enough so that they know what they're doing and how they did it while at the same time preventing them from focusing enough to fight against the control.

It was a horrible seal, an abomination.

"Ariya, can you wet this cloth for me?" The blond wasn't aware he had spoken until his own voice startled him out of his thoughts.

Said cloth was actually only a torn off piece of the sleeve of his shirt, but it would have to do.

The small brunette nodded and walked over, seemingly relieved by the distraction. She came to a stop in front of the blond and threw her head back, her chest then shook for a brief moment and she lurched forward as her cheeks expanded with water that previously wasn't there. The seals around her mouth started glowing as she released the water onto the cloth, only darkening again when all the liquid had been expelled.

The blond nodded his thanks with a small smile and folded the cloth over several times. He then moved towards Tayuya and placed it on her forehead, securing it there by placing her head band over it and tying it tight.

He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on both her eyelids.

Tayuya let out another small gasp of pain and clutched her midsection.

"I'll fix this Tayuya," Naruto whispered as he knelt down to hug the red head softly, "I promise."

* * *

_Seven weeks, six days earlier_

Naruto yawned tiredly as he stood with Tayuya in front of gate number seven. He'd been up for the better part of the night designing a seal for his partner that she'd "persuaded" him to create.

He shuddered. She had amazingly talented lips and he loved it when she put them to good use. They hadn't gotten to the point in their relationship where they were ready to start removing clothes, but the half hour they'd spent on the couch yesterday was more than enough motivation for Naruto to make the seal she wanted.

It was a variation of the storage seal, basically a much more advanced version of it. The red head wanted to keep her first puppet in a storage seal on the underside of her right forearm. That would have been easy to do, but she also wanted it to be released from the seal with the chakra strings already attached to it. That wasn't all that hard either, so long as the seal had some of her chakra to activate it with, but when she asked him to make an identical seal on his own forearm, he had to ask why she needed such a complicated invention.

She'd only smiled at him and told him it was a surprise.

Naruto sighed and absentmindedly scratched the seal that was the center of his previous thoughts. He had made it just as she requested, a fact that he prided himself on, and even made them capable of summoning the puppet to the user if it was already outside the seal.

So now Tayuya had a puppet stored in seals on both their forearms that could be summoned with chakra strings already attached at either location.

The blond shrugged to himself, he'd figure it out eventually.

"Blondie."

He turned to Tayuya to find that she was looking at him nervously while chewing on her bottom lip.

"Thanks again, yanno...for the seal," she gestured to her forearm, "it means a lot to me."

Naruto smiled slightly and decided to give into the urge he had to press a kiss to her lips.

"Think nothing of it," he said as his smile became more devious and he reached out to mess up her hair, "now you ready to kick some ass?"

She snorted. "Just try to keep up blondie."

Any further talk was interrupted, though, by the sudden opening of the gate in front of them.

Naruto immediately bowed and gestured for her to enter. "Ladies first."

She smirked and cuffed him over the back of his head, but went first anyway.

* * *

It didn't take them long to find another team and even less time to subdue them. The group of lightning nin had a heaven scroll though, not the earth scroll Naruto and Tayuya needed, so they burned it and continued on into the forest.

The lightning team had only two members when they found it though. That meant that either the Raikage thought they were strong enough to duo the test, something Naruto highly doubted, or their third teammate was off somewhere else in the forest.

Either way, the blond had no sympathy for them. Splitting up in this portion of the exam was a horrible idea, no matter how strong their team was.

"Blondie."

Naruto stopped on one of the countless giant tree branches in the forest and looked down to where Tayuya was pointing.

Three rain nin, all wearing breathing masks and white jumpsuits, were setting up various traps in a clearing some fifty yards away.

Tayuya smirked and summoned her puppet, a wooden being that stood just over six feet tall and wore a black cloak that concealed any special features, its eyes were hollow and the sockets seemed to be covered in a white fog like substance.

Naruto observed his partner for a moment, but eventually nodded and moved into a closer position on the ground. The red head obviously had something planned, so he would wait for a signal of some sort to attack.

That signal came soon enough, in the form of what looked to be his own body falling heavily to the forest floor of the clearing. It was littered with shuriken and kunai that were sticking out of it at various angles.

Naruto smirked, Tayuya's skill at genjutsu was nothing short of amazing. It was obvious that the illusion over her puppet had the rain nin completely fooled into believing a random ninja had been the unlucky victim of one of their traps farther from the clearing.

One of them chose that moment to speak up. "Be on your guard, his teammates are bound to be somewhere nearby."

With that, the one that appeared to be the leader moved towards the genjutsu covered puppet, kunai held in a guard position in front of him. Once he'd reached it, he crouched down and reached out to turn over what he thought was the fallen ninja's body. It was then that Tayuya struck.

The genjutsu fell, revealing the black cloaked wooden body, even as the puppet lurched forward with a mechanical clicking sound before the rain nin had a chance to blink. Two daggers appeared out of holes in its hands where the wooden fingers deftly caught and manipulated them with the dexterity a human was capable of.

The rain nin hastily brought his kunai up to defend himself, but the puppet knocked it away effortlessly and literally flew into the ninja's guard.

The black, poison tinted metal of the daggers flashed dangerously.

The other two rain nin finally came to their senses upon seeing their teammate's head cut cleanly off his body. The pair then immediately moved to start an illusion based clone jutsu that usually destroyed any opponent they fought.

They might have been able to complete it too, but Naruto had moved the moment he saw the first rain nin reach out for the puppet. One of the remaining teammates was quickly knocked unconscious by the blond's nearly perfect Daitoppa sending him into a tree. The last one fell victim to a particularly vicious backhand, quickly followed up by a wind enhanced kick to his midsection.

The blond smirked and immediately went about searching them for a scroll. The two he'd taken care of didn't have it, so he turned to Tayuya, just in time to see her hold up an earth scroll triumphantly.

Naruto grinned at her, but grimaced when he saw what her puppet had done to the rain nin. "Little harsh, don't you think?"

She shrugged. "I forgot to remove the poison on the daggers, so he would've died either way...I just made it quick and painless."

He nodded and said, "Alright, let's get over to the tower. I don't feel like beating anymore teams today."

Tayuya nodded in return and they set off towards the center of the forest. They would make it to the tower just short of an hour later without running into any other challenges, bringing their time to a record breaking total of three hours, twenty-two minutes.

* * *

_**Present**_

"Namikaze-san!"

Naruto turned from his position crouched in front of Tayuya to find one of the remaining Konoha nin approaching him. There were only about fifty known survivors in total and they were split into two groups on opposite sides of Konoha, one on the northwestern Hokage Mountain and one in the area around the south gate. There were only about fifteen in the group atop the mountain and even though the attacks had died down recently, the enemy nin were still out there somewhere.

He nodded to the nin, shaking himself of his thoughts as he did so.

"One of our teams has encountered some Iwa nin in their scouting mission, our other team is on their way now, but captain," the man paused to think over how he was going to say his next sentence.

"We think they may have prisoners with them."

Naruto nodded again, glancing back at Tayuya as he did so. "How many enemy nin?"

"Somewhere around thirty, captain."

"I'll head over with Tayuya then, as soon as this camp is destroyed we will go directly to the south gate to regroup and get the fuck out of here."

The chuunin nodded and sprinted off into the forest to relay the message to his allies.

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The group of survivors that had taken his and Tayuya's unconscious bodies away from the main battlefield had been constantly under assault by a combined force of Iwa and Sound nin over the three weeks it took him to regain consciousness. They had been thirty four strong following the end to all the major fighting in Konoha, since then their numbers had been reduced to fifteen.

Three ANBU, four jounin, four chuunin, a genin, Naruto himself, Tayuya and Ariya.

The blond gathered his red headed partner up in his arms as gently as he could and motioned for Ariya to follow him into the forest.

He had a job to do and people to save.

He glanced down at Tayuya's pain filled expression, unconsciously causing the wind to pick up and disturb the ground around him. His eyes hardened.

And no one would stop him from doing it.

* * *

_Seven weeks, two days earlier_

Naruto shifted from foot to foot in impatience as he stood quietly behind Tayuya, listening to the old man ramble on about good intentions and other such political bull shit that this tournament supposedly stood for.

Yeah, right.

This was all about bragging rights, who had the best genin and how they could rub it in the other villages' faces.

Naruto sighed and, seeing that Sarutobi wasn't anywhere near done talking, started to look around the room for something to occupy himself with.

There wasn't much to look at though, the room was plain with only two metal walkways overlooking an arena like space in the middle. At one end of the room stood a few statues and a a platform that the Hokage and his guard would observe the matches on while the entrance/exit to the room lay in the opposite wall.

The blond's wandering eyes focused on his and Tayuya's competition. From his position, five teams were lined up to the right. Team Kakashi was next to them, Uchiha Sasuke standing in front of Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino looking as stoic and determined as ever. After them came a team of older Konoha genin. They were clad in different shades of blue, though most of them wore a dark navy, and appeared to be at least three to four years older than the rest of the crowd.

After the three Konoha teams came a team from Suna. This trio included a redhead that looked far from sane, if the way his eyes darted around at random while he muttered to himself under his breath was any indication, a make up wearing boy with what appeared to be a cat suit on and a blond girl that hadn't stopped frowning since she entered the room.

After the Suna team was a team from a relatively new village, Sound. They wore various uniforms of grey color and, apart from the one that was hunched over with a bandaged face, looked rather normal.

The final team caught Naruto by surprise when he first saw them. It was the lightning team he and Tayuya had encountered in the forest earlier. Apparently their third teammate, a tall blond girl with her hair in an extremely long braid down her back, was strong enough to get two new scrolls by herself.

The blond frowned. The lightning nin looked much older than her teammates and was apparently a lot stronger too. Either she had been held back purposefully or Kumo had found some way to sneak her in, but one thing was obvious, she was not an ordinary genin. The fact that Iwa and Kumo rarely sent teams to exams held in Konoha or Suna just made him even more suspicious.

An elbow that was jabbed into his side, courtesy of Tayuya, startled him out of his thoughts.

"Come on blondie, we gotta get up to the walkways."

Naruto blinked in confusion, but quickly came to his senses enough to nod at Tayuya and do exactly as she told him to.

"One of the genin from the older Konoha team quit," Tayuya said as soon as she and her partner were a safe distance from the other teams, "I don't know why or what he was capable of, but that leaves us with sixteen competitors in total."

Naruto immediately found the eldest of the three Konoha teams across the room. One of them had left, just as his red headed partner had said.

He furrowed his brow at the same moment that Hayate appeared in the middle of the room. Apparently, he was to be proctor for this part of the exam.

The sickly jounin threw his students a small smile that was returned immediately before addressing room.

"The preliminary matches will now begin," he announced as the screens positioned about the room lit up and started flashing through various names.

"_Yoroi Akado vs. Uchiha Sasuke."_

The two nin jumped down to the arena in moments without any further prompting. The Uchiha was wincing every time he took a step but still managed to look as determined as ever.

"Probably happened in the forest."

Naruto nodded to his partner's statement just as Hayate started the fight.

What followed was something that left most spectators in the room somewhat disappointed in the last loyal Uchiha. Even after figuring out that his opponent drained chakra, he still used taijutsu. It was common knowledge to anyone that cared enough to look that the constantly brooding Uchiha was skilled with not only taijutsu, but ninjutsu and even some genjutsu as well.

Nonetheless, the younger nin walked away as the victor of the fight.

Naruto snorted. "Kakashi has some work to do eh?"

"The piece of shit thinks with his pride," Tayuya answered shamelessly, studiously ignoring the pointed look the weaker female on the Kumo team sent her.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!"

There was a brief pause as the unconscious Yoroi was taken from the arena floor, but soon enough the next match was announced.

"_Tayuya vs. Tsuchi Kin."_

Naruto smirked and daringly spanked the red head before she jumped down to the arena floor.

She jumped slightly and turned back to him with one eyebrow arched.

"Good luck," the blond's smirk grew.

Tayuya grinned back at him, fully aware of the slight flush that had crept onto her cheeks, and jumped down to the arena floor where her opponent was waiting.

"Whore," the dark haired girl spat as soon as Tayuya was within earshot.

The red head managed to hide her surprise at the girl's attitude and made a show of rubbed her eyes in a bored fashion as she approached.

"Jealousy's an ugly thing," she said nonchalantly as she stopped a meter or two away from Kin, "But then, you and jealousy must get along perfectly eh?"

The sound nin's jaw clenched. "What's there to be jealous of? You're a nameless bitch, likely forsaken by your parents the minute you were born."

The fierce scowl found its way onto Tayuya's face, but before she could retort, Hayate's voice rang through the room.

"Second match, Tayuya vs. Tsuchi Kin, begin!"

Tayuya immediately pulled a kunai out and wasted no time in charging the taller dark haired girl, scowl still firmly in place. Her first attempted strike was blocked, but the fact that it was a senbon used to stop her attack was confusing. They were more flimsy than kunai, liable to break and against any strong ninja, they would.

A bell chimed.

The red head abruptly cut off her follow up attack and jumped back at the sound. Her vision was blurred by the time she had landed, several images of Kin fading in and out of focus where there should only be one.

"_Genjutsu," _she quickly realized as she went about undoing it.

While Tayuya was busy getting rid of and identifying the genjutsu, a process that would really only take a few seconds, Kin started to walk towards her, an arrogant smirk on her face.

"You're just another talentless whore," she snorted as Tayuya's unfocused eyes flickered around her general area in an attempt to find the real her. "You've probably been carried through this thing by that blond."

The sound kunoichi tightened her grip on her senbon in anticipation as she neared Tayuya. "Worthless," she murmured.

"Tayuya, do you wish to forfeit?" Hayate asked, more out of formality than anything.

"Hell no!"

Kin snorted in disbelief as she raised her senbon over her head to finish the match and possibly Tayuya's time as a ninja as well. She paused to watch her red headed opponent attempt to raise a kunai with her left hand to block, laughing to herself when it ended up being nearly foot off of where it should be.

"You're a disappointment," she muttered under her breath as she struck down with her senbon.

It was then that Tayuya allowed her panicked expression to fall, an emotionless mask quickly taking its place. She moved her kunai in a flash of steel and redirected Kin's downward strike across her body and into the ground on her right.

The sound kunoichi barely had time to mutter a startled "What?!" as she stumbled forward before Tayuya's kunai moved again. This time it forced her senbon holding arm to move abruptly from her left side, to her right, effectively throwing her completely off balance and forcing her to fall straight at her opponent.

The red head was ready for her, having already cocked her right arm back. She stepped forward with her right leg at the same time she brought her fist forward, straight into Kin's nose.

The sharp crack signaling a breaking bone made nearly half the spectators wince in sympathy for the sound kunoichi, but Tayuya was only half done.

The sound kunoichi fell blindly forward at this point, temporarily in shock from the pain. Her red headed opponent wasted no time in bending her right leg to send her left knee rocketing forward. It connected with Kin's forehead with enough momentum to make her knees buckle, she was unconscious before her body finished crumpling to the floor.

Tayuya turned to the walkways without a glance back as Hayate announced her as the winner. She jumped over the metal railing and landed softly beside Naruto.

The blond snaked an arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze, whispering congratulatory words to her as he did so.

"Winner, Tayuya!"

Hayate subtly offered a girl a congratulatory nod, he had to stay unbiased after all, before the screen lit up again with flashing names.

"_Subaku no Temari vs. Yoshigura Toshi"_

The frowning blond from Suna make a show of expanding her large fan and floating down to the arena floor on it while the sole male on the Kumo team simply jumped down after a few words of encouragement from his teammates.

Hayate waited until the two of them had stopped in the middle of the floor to shout the customary phrase to start the match.

"Third match, Subaku no Temari vs. Yoshigura Toshi, begin!"

In the end, the sand girl ended the match in under five minutes. Toshi favored lightning jutsu which, against the wind jutsu of the Suna girl, left him only genjutsu and taijutsu to fight his opponent with. It quickly became obvious that he wasn't all that great with genjutsu and the constant string of wind attacks being sent at him left him absolutely no chance of getting close enough to land a physical blow.

The fight was much more revealing than it appeared to be at first glance though, Naruto reflected as Hayate announced the winner. It only reinforced his suspicions that the oldest member of the Kumo team was entirely out of place in these exams.

He glanced over at the girl in question, only to find her quickly looking away from him.

"_Yeah..." _Naruto thought as he closed his eyes, _"gonna have to keep an eye on her."_

The next few fights were largely uneventful, though the blond was somewhat surprised to find that one of the male nin from Suna was able to use a puppet, just like Tayuya could. The odd looking boy even appeared to be better at it than his partner. Either way, he had won against the remaining ninja from the older Konoha team.

Aburame Shino defeated the sound nin, Zaku, who had what appeared to be surgically installed wind tunnels in his arms. He managed to get his bugs into those tunnels and block the flow of wind which made the match end quite painfully for Zaku.

Finally, the last of the Suna nin, Gaara, brutally eliminated the younger female of the Kumo team, damn near killed her even. The red headed boy was clearly unstable and his preliminary match only left Naruto with more questions, most of which focused around his astounding ability to manipulate sand.

Presently only Naruto, the older Kumo girl, Hinata and the last sound nin were left to fight and the blond was started to get impatient.

"_Nii Yugito vs. Hyuuga Hinata."_

The last of the Namikaze shot who he now knew to be Nii Yugito a curious glance. Hopefully this fight would answer some of his questions...

"Begin!" Apparently Hayate had gotten to impatient to say the standard phrase, neither Naruto or Tayuya could truthfully say they minded.

The blond, Yugito, jumped back as soon as the match started and went about going through a series of hand seals.

Hinata took the opportunity to activate her bloodline and get into a standard Hyuuga clan defensive stance, designed specifically for the use of juuken.

The dark haired girl easily dodged a thrown kunai and the lightning jutsu that followed it, immediately charging forward afterwards. She closed the distance between her and her opponent in less than a second, her hands erupting in a furious barrage of chakra coated fingers the moment she got within reach of Yugito.

The blond kunoichi did her best to dodge or parry the deceptively soft blows, but the Hyuuga clan trained specifically to make their fingers and arms faster. Countless glancing and even some direct blows got through her defenses before the girl was able to throw a sloppy kick at Hinata to buy her some time.

Yugito made the most of the short lapse in combat though, immediately jumping backwards and throwing several more kunai and lightning jutsu at her opponent.

Hinata continued to shrug them off easily, but even so, the Kumo girl threw kunai after kunai and lightning jutsu after lightning jutsu.

Both Naruto and Tayuya could tell Yugito was planning something, they weren't sure what, but hopefully it'd be enough to turn their growing disappointment in the fight around.

Yugito had stopped moving, instead she started going through a rather long chain of hand seals in the middle of the area, seemingly unconcerned that Hinata was approaching rapidly.

"Raiton: Kusari Raikurai!"

Numerous tethers, each nearly an inch thick, arched out from Yugito's hands and immediately gravitated towards the kunai the girl had thrown earlier. The weapons that were littered across the arena floor began crackling and sparking with electricity.

The Kumo nin smirked at her opponent and, much to the Hyuuga's surprise and displeasure, started to control the lightning with her hands. Hinata quickly found herself on the defensive, bending and dodging as much of the lightning as she could. The girl kept up with it for a while and even managed to slowly make her way over to Yugito, but as soon as an arch of lightning glanced her lower right leg, her situation went downhill.

The leg seized up, temporarily paralyzed, which then caused her to be hit by two more bolts of lightning, paralyzing both her arms.

The dark haired girl toppled over once her remaining leg had been hit and Yugito wasted no time in kneeling down beside her to hold a kunai at her neck.

"Winner, Nii Yugito!"

Naruto sighed from his position on the walkway. The Kumo nin really hadn't shown the audience anything, but then, neither did Tayuya and neither will he.

The blond shrugged, resolving to think on it more later, and turned to his partner as his name appear on the screen with the remaining sound nin.

"A kiss for good luck?" He asked with an all too innocent look on his face.

She obliged him, smirking as she did so. "Don't lose blondie, I don't want to have to be stuck in the same room with all these oh-so-colorful shitheads in the finals when you're up in the fucking crowds."

He threw her a grin as he started to jump down to the arena floor. "Yeah, I guess I am the only reason you have to live aren't I?"

He got shoved off the balcony for that one, but the laugh it gave him made it worth it.

The blond wasted little time in jogging to the middle, eying the large gauntlet his opponent wore as he did so.

"Fighters ready?" Hayate asked once the blond stopped opposite his mummified opponent.

They nodded.

"Begin!"

Dosu ran at Naruto first, preparing for an obvious hook with his gauntlet covered fist.

The blond easily blocked the attack with a kunai and deftly moved in his opponent's guard. He cocked back his arm to send a wind enhanced punch at the sound nin, but suddenly, he stopped.

The jinchuuriki threw himself backwards, actually unable to stay on his feet due to a number of things. His eyes were going in and out of focus involuntarily, he abruptly gained a bad headache and became rather nauseous as well. He shook his head, an action he immediately regretted, to try and get rid of the effects the gauntlet had had on him. All that did make him lose his balance again, this time he fell to his side, just barely managing to catch himself on his elbows before he hit the ground.

Naruto forced his increasing feelings of panic down and concentrated on what he could hear, only to find that too was distorted.

Whatever the hell the sound nin did to him, it effectively made him next to useless in a fight.

Luckily after about five seconds, five seconds that seemed like a minute to Naruto, the effects began to disappear and the blond could make out a blurry image of Dosu running at him.

He forced himself to his feet and jumped backwards again, only to find that he was closer to the arena wall than he expected, resulting in the back of his head colliding painfully with it.

"Damnit," he spat out under his breath, blinking several times to get his vision focused again.

The blond stumbled forward a step or two before he could see somewhat well again, finding Dosu to be within what appeared to be two meters.

Naruto swore under his breath again and this time pushed a large amount of chakra in his legs to enable him to jump nearly the entire distance of the arena floor.

He landed and pivoted on one foot, only to find himself horribly dazed and nauseous again.

"_Must've been closer than I thought," _Naruto realized as he went about rubbing his eyes in an attempt to regain his vision.

This time the blond managed to ready himself before Dosu was even half way across the arena floor and immediately went through a chain of hand seals in rapid succession.

"Fuuton:Kazeryu!"

The arena was filled with a loud howling noise as a massive dragon made completely of wind natured chakra shot forth, shredding everything, including Dosu, in its path. The sound nin was tossed about like a rag doll until the vicious winds hurled him towards an arena wall. The dragon itself impacted the far wall with a loud _boom_ and kicked up torrents of dust, obscuring most of the arena floor from view.

Naruto didn't pause, instead he used the break to go through the seals of an A-rank wind jutsu. Kaze no Yaiba was a blade made entirely of razor sharp wind chakra that could either be thrown with great speeds or wielded like a dangerous weapon.

Naruto chose the latter.

He then made a shadow clone and disguised himself as a rock, but not before he sent a Daitoppa into the dust with his free hand, successfully clearing most of it away and revealing a battered looking Dosu.

His bandages were stained red in many places and the fur covering his back had been shredded away completely, leaving it covered only by his grey sound shirt.

The boy narrowed his visible eye in anger and charged at Naruto, seemingly disregarding the vicious looking blade in his opponent's hand as he cocked his fist back again.

The last Namikaze, still rather wary of what that gauntlet could do, took no chances. He allowed the shadow clone to take the blow of whatever it was the gauntlet did, forcing it to dispel, while he himself undid the henge disguising him as a rock. It was obvious that Dosu was caught off guard because all he did to defend himself was raise his gauntlet covered arm over his head, a bad idea, seeing as how the gauntlet was Naruto's target in the first place.

The sound nin's arm fell to the ground, hacked off cleanly at the elbow.

The boy stared at it for a moment, seemingly in shock or a daze of some sorts, before simply fainting from what Naruto assumed was the pain, getting your arm cut off probably wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world after all.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!"

* * *

_**Present**_

Namikaze Naruto looked impassively upon the wreckage that used to be an enemy camp. He had lost five more in taking it, but the fact that sacrifices were sometimes necessary had been mercilessly driven into his head over the past month or two. A fact that, combined with what was currently happening, frequently left him with a jaded, melancholy mood.

Aside from Tayuya and Ariya, he now only had three ANBU, three jounin and one chuunin under his command. One less jounin, three less chuunin and one less genin than what he started with this morning.

"Gather what you can, we're leaving in two minutes." He called out tiredly.

A chorus of "Yes captain," followed his statement.

The blond allowed his gaze to drift upward towards the sky. The rain clouds were still choking the ground of sunlight, creating a dreary atmosphere that fit perfectly into the situation the Konoha survivors found themselves in.

Naruto closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, then turned towards where he had set Tayuya just minues earlier. His jaw clenched.

Ariya was a small girl, even for her age. She barely reached his waist in height and still had faint signs of being starved on her body, even if she was starting to look more lean rather than thin now. Nonetheless, despite her harsh upbringing, she was in no condition to see the harsh realities of war.

"_She should have never been exposed to this."_

The tiny brunette simply didn't know what to make of it, hell, to her, Naruto and Tayuya were invincible. They were the ones that got her out of Iwa. They were the ones that showed her what kindness was. They were the ones that were effectively at the center of her still naive universe.

And seeing Tayuya in the condition she had been left in after the battle...

Naruto watched as Ariya nudged his girlfriend's shoulder with the side of her head, a concerned look on her face as she placed her small hands on Tayuya's thigh to support herself.

"Nee-san?" She questioned hesitantly in a small voice.

Naruto swallowed heavily. During the three weeks he and Tayuya had been unconscious, Ariya had allegedly been sick with worry, literally. The girl had refused to leave their side for anything, wherever they went, she went. When Naruto had finally woken up, only hours before his partner, he had immediately faced the problem of calming the hysterical girl and alleviating her babbled fears of he and Tayuya dying.

He had thought she would be alright, or as alright as she could be in this situation, anyway, after his talk with her. Then again, that was before even he knew of the seriousness of Tayuya's injury. In the three days since he'd woken up, he'd managed to keep the truth hidden from Ariya for two, but she found out eventually.

Now, it seemed, that her young mind simply shifted into a one track state of being. She would spend most of the time worried about Tayuya and trying to be as close to her as possible, other times Naruto would find her shivering in terror over the atrocities she'd seen.

He closed his weary eyes, eyes that were truly far too old to belong to a thirteen, soon to be fourteen year old.

For now, all he could hope to do was get away from Konoha.

Away from this nightmare.

* * *

_Three weeks, three days earlier_

Naruto closed his blue eyes under the night sky and leaned back in the chair he'd brought out to the balcony connected to his and Tayuya's apartment. It had been a tiresome month leading up to the final exams, filled with training of all kinds and no small amount of relaxation.

The blond grinned. No missions for an entire month had to be the best part of the chuunin exams.

The body that was pressed against his side shifted in her sleep, bright red hair becoming even more of a mess as she buried her face farther into his shoulder.

Tayuya had been working endlessly on her puppetry abilities, in fact, Naruto was fairly certain that she could control two at once while still being able to focus in battle now. It was an amazing accomplishment for someone who had just started about a month ago.

Naruto tightened his grip around her waist. She had started to slide off of the chair, at least, that's what would've been his excuse, the fact that the red head had arched her back into him to accommodate for the new pressure on her waist had nothing to do with it.

A dull clanking sound drew Naruto's attention to the corner of the balcony, where Tayuya had set down her puppet before she took a break to rest her eyes.

"Don't touch that Ariya, you could get hurt."

The brunette looked up at him, then back down at the puppet, then up at him again before smiling brightly.

"Okay," she chirped as she skipped over to him and climbed up on his unoccupied side.

"Why can't I touch it?" she questioned as soon as she had settled herself in and made sure Naruto wasn't going to remove his arms from her shoulders.

The blond glanced over at the puppet. "It's not something you can play with 'lil Ari."

She scrunched up her nose. He knew she hated that nick name!

Naruto laughed softly before continuing. "Tayuya-nee's got all sorts of tricks and traps in that thing, they're dangerous, even I don't want to go near it without her around."

Ariya blinked and glanced over at the puppet again. "Oh," she replied, her eyes taking on what appeared to be a betrayed look as she stared at the puppet.

It didn't affect her for long though, her smile and that bright look she always had in her eyes reappeared just seconds later.

"Naruto-nii?"

"Hmm?" The blond responded as he turned towards her to meet her bright emerald eyes.

"If we fall from here, will we die?"

Naruto blinked, confused. "What?"

The brunette suddenly became extremely interested in her feet. "Well today in the village I heard a boy say he'd push somebody off of a building because he was mad at them and I wanted to know if that could happen to me because if it can I don't want to make anyone mad at me so I-"

The whiskered blond had held a finger to the small girl's lips.

"You won't ever die if you fall off of a building."

"Really?"

He nodded. "I'll be there catch you if you do."

Ariya smiled, apparently content with the answer, and shifted closer to Naruto's side.

_BOOM_

A cataclysmic sound that echoed out in the otherwise peaceful night immediately had Naruto and a newly awoken Tayuya on their guard. A large tremor followed soon after the sound, shaking the foundations of what had to be over half the buildings in Konoha.

The blond abruptly stood and made his way to the edge of the balcony in an attempt to see what the hell had just happened. Before he could look for the disturbance though, a series of massive explosions sparked to life near the trade district. They sent blazing columns of fire in every direction...at this rate, the entire region would be burned to the ground in less than a half hour.

"What the hell?" he muttered under his breath.

Tayuya had joined him at the edge of the balcony at this point, the last signs of sleep fading from her eyes in the face of this new unknown threat.

Naruto turned to her, fully aware that the night had turned eerily silent. "I don't like this. It's obvious this isn't just some accident...we need to move."

The red head nodded at his statement, her eyes still taking in the chaos that had been wrought in the trade district.

"Get yourself and Ariya ready to leave, I'm going to find out what the hell made that first noise." The blond jinchuuriki said as he pulled on some standard body armor and grabbed his cloak and goggles from where he had left them on the railing.

He didn't look back as he jumped up to the roof of the apartment complex, throwing on his cloak and sliding his goggles on around his neck as he did so. He deftly pulled out a pair of masks and microphones from the seals on the eye wear while he was still in the air and dropped one of each down to Tayuya.

Naruto landed on his feet atop the building and immediately started to sprint over to the opposite side, his mask now firmly attached to his face.

He didn't have to make it all the way to the other side to figure out just what had had caused the tremor though.

The blond stumbled and nearly fell off the roof when he first saw it, a massive snake.

No...massive wasn't an adequate word to describe it with. Colossal would be more fitting.

The reptile had to be as wide as an entire street and nearly a quarter mile long. It was currently slithering through Konoha buildings like they were nothing more annoyances, flattening them utterly and completely, oblivious to the many smaller explosions and fires its activities caused.

Already the first signs of Konoha nin resistance were reaching the snake, but the gargantuan being completely ignored them. Instead it turned its slitted eyes to the very building Naruto was standing on.

The jinchuuriki's blood ran cold when he realized just what the snake had planned.

"Shit!" he cursed viciously, inadvertently yelling in Tayuya's ear as he did so.

"What the hell blondie! Making my fucking ears bleed is part of this whole clusterfuck of random events huh?"

Naruto blinked. He'd completely forgotten about the communications system the masks had in his astonishment at seeing the snake.

"Tayuya!" he got out quickly. "Get the hell o-"

Another tremor, this time strong enough to knock him to the ground, shook the supports of the apartment building as the snake came into contact with it. The structure immediately began groaning dangerously as metal support beam after support beam snapped under the growing pressure.

"Damnit!" He bit out again, this time ignoring any response Tayuya might have thrown back at him for yelling into the microphone.

He got to his feet again and sprinted the rest of the distance to the side of the collapsing building. Naruto jumped over the edge towards the balcony, just as a terrified scream reached his eyes.

He looked down and found, much to his horror, Ariya falling alongside the massive shards and pieces of stone that previously made up the building. Tayuya was on her hands and knees on the remaining side of the balcony, apparently having just finished sealing her puppet away when a tremor knocked her off balance.

Naruto landed on what remained of the railing of his and Tayuya's balcony, holding on to it with both hands, and allowed gravity to swing his body over the edge. Now under the railing, he pushed off of it without a second thought towards the nearest piece of falling rubble.

The boy landed on it less than a quarter second later and immediately pushed off of it towards another large shard of stone farther down. Upon landing on that one, he directed himself next towards Ariya and pushed off, the brunette was only about five stories off the ground at this point, there was absolutely no time to waste.

He nearly cried out in relief and started checking to make sure she was alright when he finally grabbed hold of the small brunette and landed on another piece of rubble. There were more important things to worry about at that moment though, like how the hell he was going to stop himself and Ariya from becoming nothing more than splatters on the ground.

The blond briefly considered allowing the rock shard below him to take the brunt of the damage from the fall, but quickly realized his own downward momentum would still most likely kill him.

Jumping off the rock and onto a nearby building was out of the question as well, no matter what he landed on, he would still be traveling downward just as fast as he was now.

The only solution then: he'd have to go up.

The blond pumped wind chakra into his legs, something he'd recently started doing to improve the distance and height he could jump, and pushed off the rock below him. The piece of rubble offered little resistance to his motion though, so he only got about five feet in the air.

"Damnit!" he cursed again as he landed on the same rock he'd tried to jump off of. He was distantly aware of Ariya's terrified cries in his ear and the kunai with ninja wire attached to it Tayuya had just thrown near him.

It would never make it in time.

He pushed more wind chakra into his legs this time and attempted to jump again. This time he almost made it to another rock, but ended up slowly drifting back down to the one he'd been standing on, which was now only about one story above the ground.

"_Slowly?" _The blond blinked.

Had he been in a more collected state of mind, he probably would have considered other options, such as directing a Daitoppa at the ground to ease his fall, but at that moment all he realized was something that he had tried worked, if only just a little, to stop himself and Ariya from falling to their doom.

The blond pushed enough wind chakra into his legs to fuel a small tornado this time and jumped off of the rock just as it smashed to pieces on the unforgiving ground.

Of all the results he had expected and hoped for, shooting upward when he released the torrent of wind chakra he had built up was not one of them.

Eventually, the wind chakra expired and he began to fall again. He pushed more wind chakra into his legs, expelling it in a constant stream this time instead of all at once.

Naruto blinked in surprise.

He was actually _floating _in mid air.

Granted, he was horribly off balance and swerving around recklessly between the falling rubble, but he was _floating _in mid air.

One rather large piece of wreckage falling right at him served to pull the blond from his thoughts. He cursed under his breath and almost comically whirled his free arm around in windmill like motions to try and direct himself towards the ground.

That obviously didn't work.

He glanced up at the piece of rock, now only three stories away, and this time tried curling himself into a ball around Ariya.

It worked, his movements had caused him to tilt forward until he was roughly facing directly sideways.

Naruto let out a large burst of wind chakra from his feet and found, much to his pleasure, that he shot forward and out of the raining debris.

From there it was a simple task of steadily decreasing the amount of wind chakra he expelled until he slowly floated back down to the earth.

The moment his feet touched solid ground again he fell over backwards, only then realizing that he was panting rather heavily.

Ariya had her head buried deep in his shoulder, her hands curled into death grips on his clothes. She was whimpered softly but when Naruto raised a hand to stroke her hair, the brunette hesitantly looked up at him to find that they were on the ground again. She smiled a small, soft smile but didn't release her trembling hold upon his clothes.

"-uto! Naruto!" Tayuya's desperate voice suddenly came back to him, effectively breaking him out of his stupor.

"I'm alright Tayuya," he spoke into the microphone, "just tired and a little surprised I managed to pull that off."

"Yeah," came her reply, her voice wavering, "it was really something blondie, amazing. You beat the shit outta the nearby buildings from all the debris you scattered, but really fucking amazing."

Naruto snorted, idly noting that his partner was taking the safer route down from the top of the ruined apartment complex, jumping down from roof top to roof top.

It was another thirty seconds before she reached them, during which Naruto had regained his breath, stood up and coaxed Ariya into letting go of him and standing on her own two feet.

Tayuya tackled Naruto to the ground in a bear hug as soon as she got close to them and wasted no time in tearing both their masks off to plant a desperate kiss on his lips.

It was only then the blond realized what his actions had done to the red head. If he had to watch her jump with reckless abandon toward the ground amongst the falling debris of his apartment building...well, he could understand where she was coming from.

He had just wrapped his arms around his shaking partner and gave her a squeeze when another series of explosions disturbed the deceptively quiet night. The Konoha nin, apparently, had managed to get rid of the colossal snake but battles were probably springing up everywhere by now.

Naruto grimaced and got to his feet, Tayuya quickly following suit, and replaced his mask.

He made a half dozen shadow clones, injecting no small amount of Kyuubi's chakra to make them far more durable, and turned to Ariya.

The girl was looking up at him with a look in her eye that told him she knew what he was going to ask of her.

He got down on a knee in front of her while Tayuya sat herself down at the girl's side.

"Ariya," he waited for a moment, "Ariya," he tried again. This time, she looked up at him. He cupped her chin and gently shook her head until she smiled.

Naruto grinned back at her. "Tayuya and I need to figure out what's going on, alright? I need you to go with these clones and stay safe."

"But!" the girl immediately protested. She was silenced, however, by Tayuya's finger being placed over her lips.

"It'll be alright 'lil Ari," the red head stated as she put her hand on the smaller brunette's shoulder. "It's not like we're going to die or anything."

Ariya made a distressed sound while Tayuya immediately started to back track, further conversation was stopped by a familiar voice though.

"As amusing as Tayuya with children is," Hayate said with a grin on his face, "we've a situation on our hands."

Naruto nodded and turned back to Ariya.

"We've really got to go now," he continued quicker before the brunette could protest, "don't worry, everything'll be alright."

As he finished speaking he reached up to his neck and removed his goggles, then placing them around the neck of an unresisting Ariya.

The girl burst into tears with the action and threw herself at Naruto's legs, mumbling and babbling her denials into the black cloth.

The blond sighed in regret before pressing a select few pressure points on the brunette's neck to knock her out. He nodded to his clones and watched as they carried the girl away from where the commotion seemed to be centered, after they faded from sight in the poor lighting of the night, he turned to Tayuya and Hayate.

"There's a confirmed force of both Sand and Sound nin attacking the village," the sickly jounin said, anxiously tightening his grip on his sword as he spoke, "our current orders are to do anything within our power to protect the civilians and repel the invaders."

"Two ninja forces are here? One of them being a member of the five great elemental countries?" Tayuya asked with a wary glint in her eye as the trio jumped up to the nearest rooftop in the direction of the fires that were nowburning brightly against the night sky.

"Yeah, Sand went and betra-"

_BOOM_

Another cataclysmic sound and accompanying tremor stopped any reply Hayate had.

The group stopped to keep themselves from falling over amidst the even larger tremor atop a building. The moment they managed to regain their footing and started to look for what caused the newest disturbance though, the building beneath them suddenly gave out.

Hayate immediately jumped from the collapsing structure and onto a taller building that had survived the unknown disturbance. Naruto and Tayuya followed and, though slower, managed to reach the same building before the old one gave out.

The two younger nin in the trio looked to Hayate once they had landed on the building and found him staring toward the Hokage monument, mouth hanging open.

They turned in the direction their sensei was looking.

The Hokage monument was no longer sitting on the massive cliff overlooking Konoha, rather it was _falling _off of it. The giant faces, once a proud symbol of Fire Country, were now the main contributor to a landslide that could easily flatten a quarter of Konoha in under a minute.

The stupefied trio were rudely shaken from their daze by several kunai landing at their feet, exploding notes sizzling dangerously on each of them.

They jumped away from the weapons and split up to find and destroy their enemies. Visibility was nearly zero and the unknown amount of hostile nin knew their positions, something they themselves couldn't claim.

Naruto grimaced. The odds were certainly stacked against them and not only that, but the link between himself and Tayuya might as well just be a beacon advertising their position.

He rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding several shuriken as they whistled past his position. He was currently in darkened alleyway and while he knew exactly where he was in Konoha, that knowledge did nothing to help him figure out where his enemies were.

"Damnit," he cursed under his breath as he pulled on some of the Kyuubi's chakra, just enough to enhance his senses...he couldn't afford using anymore at this point, not this early on in the battle.

His vision immediately sharpened and the chakra link started showing signs of shifting to a red color. The blond ignored the slight discomfort his body experienced and instead shot off towards where he saw a Sound nin disappear around the corner.

Tayuya, currently a few buildings farther down the street, was in the middle of charging at two nin that had made the mistake of trying to sneak up on her as her senses were strengthened alongside Naruto's.

The red head threw put a genjutsu to distort their senses as she closed in on the first of the startled nin, slashing out with her daggers in a dangerous flash of black metal.

One fell with an eviscerated throat while the other deftly had her kunai knocked away, leaving her open to Tayuya's back hand.

The enemy nin was knocked off her feet, but the red head allowed her no time to regain her bearings. She picked up the raven haired sound nin and pushed her up against the wall of a building.

"You're going to tell me everything you know about this attack or you'll die a slow and painful death," the red haired kunoichi said slowly. Under the influence of the Kyuubi, her eyes changes to a violent red color with black slits running down the middle. Thick whisker-like tattoos marred her cheeks and her red hair even darkened in color.

Those characteristics, when added to the dim lighting the night provided, made for one intimidating sight.

Of course, the dagger that Tayuya had pressed against the girl's throat might've helped measures too.

Nonetheless, the sound nin was easily convinced to give up the information she knew.

"I-I don't know-" she was cut off by another vicious back hand that knocked her to the ground. She was hauled to her feet and thrust against the wall again before she could figure out what was happening though.

"It was Orochimaru!" the girl cried out hysterically, "he-he said, he told us to attack as soon as the snake breached the wall with Iwa and Suna!"

Tayuya's eyes narrowed, further incerasing her frightening appearance. Iwa too? This wasn't looking good...

The red head glanced over toward where the Hokage faces used to rest. It must have been Iwa's doing. The ear shattering rumble the landslide had made as it devastated Konoha buildings had faded long ago, but something that caused that much damage could certainly be expected from the vindicative Iwa nin.

Tayuya looked back to her trembling captive and wasted no time in smashing the back of her head against the building. The girl was knocked out instantaneously.

"Well, now we know why Iwa was quiet all this time..." she muttered darkly to herself.

"Tayuya."

The girl turned towards the quiet voice, finding Naruto, Hayate and the ANBU she knew as her sensei's girlfriend walking towards her.

Naruto instantly waved her over and jumped off towards the Hokage building as soon as she was close. Tayuya could easily see a massive glowing box sitting atop the building the moment her vision rose above the rooftops, it was sticking out like a sore thumb against the night sky and certainly wasn't there a few minutes ago.

"What the fuck is that?" She called out to Naruto as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"That's what we're going to find out."

Another disturbance, however, prevented them from going farther.

A tremor shook Konoha to its very foundations and managed to throw Naruto from his perch atop a building to the unforgiving street below. Tayuya was a little more lucky, she was in the air at the time and could clearly see what had caused the newest of the tremors.

"What the fuck?!"

A giant sand raccoon, or at least that's what it looked like, was busying itself with smashing through as much of Konoha as possible. Ninja were already swarming towards it, but their efforts went ignored.

She turned towards Naruto.

"I'm going after that thing."

He nodded as he landed next to her, his only indication that he'd seen the monster being an arched eyebrow.

A pause.

"Be careful," he whispered as he turned away, towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

Tayuya quickly found that the monstrous sand being was far more durable than she'd first suspected. It shrugged off nearly every physical blow that the Konoha nin could throw at it and regrew any part of its body when a jutsu actually managed to damage it. The only part of it that looked vulnerable was the red headed body sticking out of its head, apparently asleep.

"Naruto," Tayuya whispered into her mask, "the sand thing is a demon, I think. Seems like that red headed boy was a jinchuuriki."

She heard Naruto curse as she made her way to the top of a taller building and warn her to be even more careful.

"Don't worry about me, this thing is big and slow, easily avoidable. How do things look on your end."

"Complicated. I'm still trying to find a way in the barrier. Orochimaru got Sarutobi alone, they're fighting inside of it now."

Tayuya snorted as she made it to the top of a building that was nearly level with the sand demon's head. "And you told me to be careful? Good luck blondie, you'll need it, and I swear if you go and die on me..."

"It'll take more than some snake, sannin or not, to keep me from you. Good luck Tayuya."

She felt a soft smile flit across her face with Naruto's parting words, but quickly refocused herself back on the challenge in front of her. She needed to get to the boy somehow and the sand that thing was made out of wasn't going to make it easy.

She sighed and summoned her black-cloaked puppet.

"Well, here goes nothing," she muttered to herself.

The puppet shot off toward the sand demon, twisting and turning around the first attempts the monster made to stop it. The sand appeared to move faster as the puppet neared the boy and the demon actually focused on stopping it. What was once a small stream of sand became a vicious torrent that moved as fast as a thrown kunai would.

Tayuya successfully got her puppet to within about fifty feet of the boy without taking a single blow of sand, but at that point the demon started focusing solely on the wooden being. A spiral of swift moving sand suddenly surrounded the puppet, denying it any chance of escaping to its sides. Then, another pillar of sand burst forth from the creature's hand and rushed directly into the spiraling sand.

"Damnit," Tayuya cursed as she was forced to withdraw her puppet the only way she could, backwards. She moved her puppet just as fast as the sand that was heading towards it and managed to get it safely away from the demon, but now the giant being seemed to be keeping an eye on it.

She sighed and searched for a building that would give her the advantage of height. It didn't take long to find another apartment complex that would do just that, it was one of the few tall buildings standing in Konoha now.

Tayuya set about jumping from rooftop to rooftop and then running up the side of the large building once she'd reached it. She made it to the top and found herself looking down at the sand demon, which was smashing its way towards her.

Satisfied, she crouched down in preparation to jump at it, using her free hand to place a genjutsu over herself as she did so. It gave her abilities similar to a chameleon's and, in the dim lighting, should be sufficient enough to hide her.

The demon was only a block away from her building now, the structure of it was shaking ominously as it grew closer and closer.

When it stopped in front of the apartment complex and swung a sand arm out at the building, Tayuya jumped at it, prompting her puppet to head towards the demon as well.

The sand being immediately focused on her puppet, just as Tayuya had hoped, and went about trying to destroy it. The red head herself was largely ignored, due to the genjutsu covering her.

This time, the puppet only managed to get half as close as it did the first time since Tayuya was busy avoiding the sand herself. A column of sand connected with its arm, completely obliterating the limb.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath. The puppet wouldn't last much longer at this point, but she needed it to distract the demon for at least a few more seconds before she could have a chance at reaching the boy on her own.

She made it raise its remaining arm and shoot its dagger at the sand demon, it landed on the thing's shoulder, a good twenty feet away from the boy. Then the puppet stopped completely, leaving it nothing more than a sitting duck, and opened its cloak.

The instant the black cloth was taken away, countless holes opened up on its torso and legs. A storm of senbon erupted from the openings, cascading down on the red headed boy like a deadly rainfall of vicious looking steel.

The sand demon raised an arm to intercept the weapons, momentarily stopping its efforts to end the puppet's existence and allowing Tayuya to land on its shoulder unnoticed. She touched the seal on her right arm as she sprinted towards the red headed boy, causing the puppet to be stored safely away once more.

She scooped her sinking dagger up out of the sand as she drew closer and jumped at her target. Sand instinctively rose in defense, forming a thick defensive ball around its jinchuuriki, but she managed to land before the dome was complete.

Her hand bearing the dagger immediately shot past the sand, but as soon as it did, the dome twitched dangerously and focused all its efforts into stopping her attack.

It succeeded.

Tayuya spat out a curse as the sand locked around her arm in an unbreakable embrace, then cursed even more as she heard a roar below her and the tell tale sounds of rapidly moving sand.

"Damnit," she whispered as she focused her attention back on her trapped arm. As far as she could tell, the dagger was probably only an inch or two away from the jinchuuriki inside the dome and she refused to waste her chance at killing him by simply throwing the weapon; too many thing could go wrong.

Her affinity with earth chakra quickly proved to be useless in moving the sand away from her arm, though it wasn't like she expected it to work anyway...

She let out a frustrated huff even as massive pillars of sand rocketed towards her in the form of the massive demon's arms. The sand around her feet was already started to react to her presence as well, she was ankle deep in the stuff at the moment.

Tayuya closed her eyes. She needed something that would kill the human inside the sand dome, guaranteed. An earth jutsu was out of the question, she had no material that was willing to cooperate with her nearby and it was much too slow either way.

Dark brown eyes snapped open and a hand slowly started forming seals.

She needed to do this right the first time. There would be no seconds chances.

Her experience with this particular affinity was almost nonexistent, she'd only seen it been used, so she paid great attention to making sure her chakra was manipulated in the right ways, even as she sunk to her knees in the sand and the demon's arms drew within ten feet of her.

"_Fuuton: Daitoppa!"_

Her actions had a immediate effect on the sand demon. The arms abruptly stopped in place, so close that if she reached behind her she would be able to touch them, alongside the earth shattering howls of rage and bloodlust. The backside of the sand dome, the side opposite her arm, was completely desecrated by the strong wind, the sand that once made it up now falling harmlessly to the ground below.

And finally...

"Blood! My blood!"

Tayuya winced as the red headed boy behind the deteriorating sand wall screamed blood murder. It was as if he'd never been injured before - though that was actually quite possible, she realized with a snort.

"BLOOD!"

The last of the sand fell away, revealing the jinchuuriki curled into a ball around his injury. Blood was splattered everywhere, on the sand, on the red head's clothes and hair, everywhere.

Apparently she'd managed to inflict a serious wound.

The sand under her abruptly shifted, then gave out completely without any sort of warning.

Tayuya's eyes widened. One second she was buried knee deep in sand and the next, she was falling from a height that she didn't care to figure out.

A cheer echoed into the night, evidence of Konoha nin nearby who had been fighting the demon, at the sight of the sand crumbling to the ground.

It took nearly ten seconds and several attempts to slow her fall on nearby buildings for her to reach the ground, but when she landed heavily on her feet Tayuya wasted no time in hurrying over to the jinchuuriki where he lay in a large puddle of his own blood.

His skin was pale, that much was obvious, and the tattoo on his forehead stood out even more because of it. His breathing was shallow and unconsciousness had already claimed him.

Tayuya nodded. He wouldn't survive for much longer, a few minutes at most; his fall had most likely sealed his fate.

Even a jinchuuriki couldn't recover from being stabbed by a dagger propelled by a wind jutsu and then falling several stories to the unforgiving ground below.

The group of Konoha nin had reached her by the time she stood up and now looked to be unsure of what to do next.

Tayuya wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and scoffed in annoyance. "What the hell do you idiots think you're doing? There's still a battle to fight and a city to save! Get to it!"

The ninja scattered, but not before many of them nodded respectfully at Tayuya, something she wasn't used to. A few of them even went as far as to bow before her.

She shook her head wearily and set off towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

Naruto arrived atop the dome roof of the Hokage tower to find a small group of ANBU simply watching the fight taking place inside the glowing box. It seemed Orochimaru had somehow gotten Sarutobi alone inside the barrier and was now trying to kill him while his subordinates kept up the shield.

"It blocks out everything, even sound," one of the ANBU told Naruto without being prompted.

He frowned and immediately left the ANBU to circle the barrier until he found one of the ninja keeping it functioning. The sound nin were each positioned just inside a corner at each end of the barrier and had another glowing wall behind their backs, preventing Sarutobi from doing anything to them as well.

Naruto grunted in annoyance. They were protected from all sides.

"Naruto," he heard Tayuya's voice through his earpiece, "the sand thing is a demon, I think. Seems like that red headed boy was a jinchuuriki."

He grimaced and cursed under his breath. Another jinchuuriki could only end in misfortune for Konoha. "Be careful. You know what a demon can do, no matter how strong or how many damned tails they have."

He heard Tayuya's voice again a moment later. "Don't worry about me, this thing is big and slow, easily avoidable. How do things look on your end."

"Complicated," he started, "I'm still trying to find a way in the barrier. Orochimaru got Sarutobi alone, they're fighting inside of it now."

"And you told me to be careful? Good luck blondie, you'll need it, and I swear if you go and die on me..."

He allowed a grim smile to cross his face. "It'll keep more than some snake, sannin or not, to keep me from you. Good luck Tayuya."

When no reply came, Naruto set about trying to find a way through the barrier. He quickly found that any physical attack would be incinerated and that heat was unable to get through it as well.

"Kaze no Yaiba," he muttered as he thrust his arm towards the sound nin inside the barrier. The attack itself was stopped as the barrier stripped the enhanced air of its chakra, but air itself actually made it through. It was nothing but a burst of air at that point, only strong enough to tousle the hair of the nin, but it actually made it through.

"Air," Naruto muttered under his breath. He needed to find a way to use air...

Blue eyes widened.

He reached down to the roof below his feet and tore up the shingles until he hit the wooden supports below them. He then used a simple jutsu to set them on fire and allowed them to burn for a moment or two.

Once the fire had reached the point where it started to produce copious amounts of smoke, Naruto aimed a Daitoppa at the sound nin inside the barrier, making sure that it would pass through the smoke the fire made.

He grinned as he saw the contaminated air flow through the glowing barrier and into breathing space of the nin. The sound nin lasted for a minute or two amongst the air, but ended up collapsing due to the smoke and letting his part of the barrier fail. The glowing box flickered and dimmed, but remained whole.

Naruto quickly made his way back over to the ANBU and told them of his success. They then went about doing the same thing to the other three sound nin keeping the barrier up.

One corner fell within a minute, dimming the barrier further, and then another. With only one corner left functioning, the barrier was hardly visible at all, and eventually flickered out entirely as the last sound nin fell.

Naruto and the ANBU immediately sprinted through trees that the resurrected first Hokage had made, towards the sounds of battle.

The blond arrived first, pausing in surprise at the scene before him. Sarutobi had what looked to be a ghostly arm protruding from his stomach that was grabbing at a resistant Orochimaru. He also had a long, thin sword impaled in his stomach from behind and, despite his ape summon's best efforts, it was slowly sinking further in.

He vaguely recognized what was going on and wasting no time in rushing toward the Hokage to help hold back the sword.

Before he could get close enough to help though, Sarutobi's body seemed to give out on him. He collapsed as Orochimaru's arms turned a dead-looking grey color, as if they were sapped of all life. The sannin himself stumbled forward and cursed viciously.

Naruto pulled out a kunai and wasted no time in sending an expertly formed Daitoppa at the weakened nin.

Orochimaru twisted around the burst of air and landed easily on his feet, but as soon as he landed, he sprinted as fast as he could away from Naruto and the body of the Hokage.

It was at that moment the ANBU arrived.

Naruto pointed after where Orochimaru had disappeared to, watching as the ANBU immediately shot after him with speeds superior to what he was capable of.

He sighed and muttered a disappointed curse under his breath, turning to make his way back to the battle and help out where he could. However, before he could make his way out of the trees he heard someone land nearby. He turned towards the sound.

Nii Yugito sat perched on a tree branch in plain sight. She wore armor similar to what one might find on an ANBU of Konoha, though the Kumo insignia on her forehead protector betrayed any thought that she might be a friend.

"So Kumo's in on this too huh?" Naruto grimaced inwardly, as if Sound, Sand and Iwa weren't bad enough.

She shrugged. "Not exactly, I've just been sent to help out. A gesture of good will, I suppose."

Naruto grunted. It was common knowledge that the alliance between Kumo and Iwa was precarious at best, it seemed Cloud just wanted to secure their future after the attack.

"Odds are stacked against us that bad huh?" Naruto grinned.

A grin was shot back at him. "Seems that way, and unfortunately for you, I've decided that your death is the best way to show what my village's intentions are."

With that, Yugito pulled a kunai from the pouch on her waist and lunged toward Naruto.

Her speed surprised him and while her attempt to behead him was dodged, she managed to plant a fist in his gut that sent him flying backwards.

Naruto righted himself in midair and landed heavily on his feet. He was immediately forced to block Yugito's kunai and the kick that followed it, but when the girl pulled back to begin another series of attacks, he allowed a Daitoppa to pulse forth from his fingertips.

At point blank range and no warning whatsoever, Yugito was hurled backwards and the air was forcedly expelled from her lungs. She landed on her feet but fell to a knee while trying to blink off her disorientation.

Naruto, never one to waste an opportunity, had kept busy since the moment Yugito had gone flying across the clearing. He managed to close half the distance between them when she finally hit the ground and was well within her guard when coherent thought returned to her.

He planted a solid punch in her gut and spun to follow up with a kick that would break her jaw, but the moment his fist came into contact with her, she dissolved into a puddle of water.

Naruto cursed under his breath and wasted no time in ducking, narrowly avoiding a kick aimed for his head. He was surprised though, when a fist caught him on the jaw before he could recover.

He rolled with the impact and came up on a knee, immediately finding Yugito inside his guard and another punch heading for his gut.

He was too shocked to do anything to avoid the blow, so he was sent tumbling backwards. He quickly, though rigidly, got to his feet again and looked to his charging opponent to confirm what he thought he'd seen.

"_Yugito's a jinchuuriki!" _

Her eyes were a pale blue and slit down the middle, just like his under the Kyuubi's influence. She had claws instead of fingernails and toenails now, as well as larger ears that looked to be pointed at the end.

"**Nibi,"** came a growl in the demonic tone he'd become accustomed to Kyuubi speaking in.

"The Nibi?" he muttered to himself as he ducked under a swipe of claws and quickly got off a Daitoppa to buy himself some time.

"**The two tailed demon, fleshbag. She's agile, cunning and lucky as hell, in other words, everything you're not."**

Naruto grunted a response and drew on some of his own demon's power as Yugito started to charge again. He felt his nails lengthen into claws, his whisker marks grow more pronounced, his hair more wild and his eyes more feral.

If his opponent was surprised by his transformation, she didn't show it. She jumped forward and wasted no time in trying to take his head off again and, when that attempt failed, used her momentum to plant her hand in the ground and send a vicious kick at his midsection.

Naruto stepped back to avoid the kick and dashed forward again as soon as it had passed. If this girl was a jinchuuriki as well, then he needed to end it quickly, he couldn't afford a drawn out battle this early on.

The blond drew on an entire tail's worth of Kyuubi's chakra and allowed his hand to shoot forward, firmly grasping the ankle of the leg Yugito tried to kick him with. He then tensed the muscles in his arm and swung the girl like a sword at a nearby tree.

She impacted with a sickening crunch, but Naruto didn't stop there.

He kept his grip on her ankle and spun, taking the older blond girl with him, towards another tree. Yugito impacted with another crunch.

Naruto then tossed her several feet away from him and began a chain of hand seals that took him several seconds to progress through. But before he could finish them, a large torrent of light blue chakra was expelled from Yugito's body.

He covered his eyes reflexively and immediately regretted it.

The first thing he saw upon opening his eyes again was a massive blue paw heading straight for him, a blue paw that was attached to an equally large blue cat figure with two tails.

"Fuck."

* * *

_**Present**_

Three ANBU, one jounin and one chuunin.

Of the thirty-four that had originally pulled his and Tayuya's bodies from the wreckage of Konoha, only five remained.

Naruto grimaced. He could only hope the group on the southern end of the village had faired better.

He shook himself from his thoughts and made a hand sign to the nin behind him as he led his group down a series of alley ways and tunnels that headed in the general direction of the southern gates. This route was known to him like the back of his hand, just as every other nook and cranny in Konohagakure was.

A snort.

At least his childhood had been good for something.

He turned another corner and ducked behind a displaced trash can, flowing with practiced ease from the alley way above ground to the small tunnel below it. Behind him, Ariya followed closely, then the jounin and the chuunin, six of his shadow clones that were carrying Tayuya with them and finally, the three ANBU.

About six yards down the tunnel he pushed up on the dirt above him, revealing the passage way back to the surface. He re-emerged behind a heater in the back room of his favorite place to 'shop' for food.

Naruto paid no attention to the looks the ninja behind him cast his way, whether they be approving or not, and made his way to the front of the shop.

His hand paused a foot from the door. This was the biggest risk in taking the shortcut he knew. The group would have to spend time out in the open, away from the protection and the darkness of the alley ways.

He sighed.

"Get ready, we move swiftly and silently. The alley way to the south of the building."

With that, he picked up Ariya under his arm and slid out of the doorway, keeping low to the ground as he moved to the alley way.

He made it without incident, as did the jounin but the chuunin crumpled to the ground under an unexpected assault of kunai and shuriken.

Naruto cursed under his breath and set Ariya down behind a trash can then dashed towards where his clones were huddled protectively around Tayuya as they made their way toward the alley. The ANBU had already engaged the majority of the enemy force, what looked to be about a half dozen sound nin, and judging on how the fight was going thus far, it would be over rather quickly.

Once his clones, Tayuya and Ariya were safe in the alley way, he turned back to the fighting.

He found, much to his displeasure, that apparently these sound nin were a step above the grunts that had been sent to fight in the initial assault.

He'd lost another ANBU and the jounin would likely be killed unless he got backup, and fast.

Naruto leaped up to the rooftop immediately went about backing up the jounin. There were only four sound nin left and now that the numbers were even, the Konoha nin appeared to have the upper hand.

In the end, he and the jounin had fought two the sound nin until one of the ANBU finished off his opponent. With their advantage gone, the sound nin fled.

"Well done," Naruto spoke quickly and quietly as he led the way back to his clones and the remaining two members of their group, "if we hurry, we can reach the gates in five minutes."

* * *

Naruto had learned very quickly that the forest on top of the Hokage tower was his greatest asset in facing a demonic Yugito. Her form was large and, while it was extremely agile for its size, unable to move through the trees without stumbling.

He landed and immediately took cover behind a tree, narrowly avoided a blast of pure chakra that likely would have put him in a hospital bed for months.

"Naruto!"

Tayuya's voice startled him enough to make him jump.

"Yeah?" He said, his voice strained as he dashed from his hiding place while simultaneously ducking under a massive paw.

"Release the seal holding my puppet!"

Naruto didn't think twice about what she told him to do, he took cover behind another tree and pressed his hand to the seal.

Tayuya's puppet popped into existence, black cloak and all. Though it appeared to be missing an arm.

"What are-"

He stopped speaking upon seeing just what his partner was planning.

"Amazing Tayuya!"

He allowed himself a grin. The red head had managed to place a genjutsu over where the eyes on her puppet would be, evidenced by the white mist that was constantly lingering over the area, that allowed her to see what it would have. Where the white mist was before, two hazy images of eyes were now present.

Naruto's mind was abruptly forced to focus back on the demon that wanted to rip him limb from limb when the tree he was using as cover shook ominously.

He burst out of his hiding spot and jumped up to a branch of another nearby tree. Before Yugito could turn her head to look at him, he made a one handed seal and produced several dozen shadow clones to serve as a distraction while he thought up a plan.

"Tayuya," Naruto started as his copies recklessly charged the demon, "her mobility in here is practically zero. Can you distract her while I move in close enough to deal a crippling blow?"

"Yeah. I'll make sure her attention is on me as soon as the last of your clones is destroyed."

He gave no response, simply trusting that she would accomplish what he asked of her, and dropped to the ground again. He slowly started weaving his way through the tiny dense forest until he was positioned behind Yugito.

He then got down on one knee and held out one of his hands, palm facing upward. A look of concentration passed over his features and gentle breeze stirred the nearby foilage. Chakra began forming in his hand, whirling and twisting in strands around each other in the shape of a ball, and the wind seemed to be drawn to it.

Seconds that seemed like minutes passed and eventually Naruto held a completed Rasengan in his hand, but he was not done. The wind that had been but a breeze before picked up into a more harsh gust. It tousled the blond's hair and rustled nearby leaves.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment and the wind started to be sucked into the ball of chakra.

Its form shifted and became volatile, but Naruto held it together with unwavering determination.

The wind was growing louder as more of it was siphoned into the chakra ball, loud enough that the sounds of Tayuya's puppet fighting the demon cat could barely be heard. It gouged its mark into the bark of the nearby trees and made several small cuts on the skin of Naruto's arms.

The sound of snapping wood and a roar of triumph startled the blond, almost to the point where he lost control of the enhanced Rasengan.

"Naruto! Whatever the hell you're planning, you better do it now!"

Blue eyes closed and a breath rushed past his lips.

The wind stilled, the clearing now silent but for the whirring sounds of the Rasengan.

Naruto opened his eyes, ignoring the stinging pain of the wind cutting into his skin, and abruptly dashed around the tree he was hiding behind.

He shot towards Yugito, sprinting under her hind legs and ducking under her tails with his jutsu humming contently.

The demon roared in half-surprise half-anger at being caught off guard, but it could do nothing to stop Naruto's attack at this point.

"Fuuton: Rasengan!"

He slammed the ball into the belly of the beast above him, grinning as it immediately went about cutting through layer after layer of chakra-flesh. His attack gouged a wound at least a half foot deep into Yugito's chakra body at which point the volatile winds broke free of its restraints.

Naruto was tossed away by the wind of his own attack while Yugito was lifted off the ground and sent spiraling out of control. She impacted one of the surrounding trees with a dull crunching sound and slid down its trunk as her chakra body started to crumble. By the time she hit the ground, she was in her human body again, hunched over a vicious looking wound that was located on the side of her abdomen.

She spit out a mouth full of blood and cursed under her breath. Her judgment had always been hindered in her demon form; she should have been more careful!

Her mission wasn't a complete failure though, she'd managed to keep Konoha's jinchuuriki at bay for a decent amount of time, hopefully it was too late for him to turn the tide of the battle around.

A crunching sound caught her attention and she looked up, breathless and with blurred vision, to find Naruto stalking towards her with a simple kunai in hand.

She scrambled to her feet, leaning heavily against the tree behind her, and drew one of her own kunai with shaking hands.

"It's too late," Yugito grit out through clenched teeth, "you won't be able to-"

She saw it coming. She saw it coming and she tried to dodge, but her body would not cooperate. As a result, she crumpled to the ground after a solid punch impacted her midsection.

"You may be able to destroy buildings and level walls, but you'll never be able to truly destroy Konoha. Don't try and fool yourself into believing you can."

Yugito tried to snort in disbelief, but it came out as more of a gasp of pain.

"_Why the hell isn't this getting healed!"_

Naruto caught the confused look she shot at her wound and correctly guessed what she was thinking about.

"The damage from my attack can't be healed through the demonic chakra you and I have access to. The wind in my attack not only destroyed your flesh, but it essentially shredded your chakra points in that area too. Wherever my wind did damage, you won't be able to use chakra, demonic or not."

"Fuck you!" Yugito spat out, blood and spittle flying from her lips as her eyes faded in and out of focus.

Naruto ignored her and raised his kunai, ready to end the Kumo nin's life, but at that moment Tayuya's voice rang out in his ear.

"Naruto! I need help! The fucking-" she cut off for a moment, static and muffled sounds of fighting replacing her voice instead, "it's the Tsuchikage! The fucking Tsuchikage is here!"

His eyes widened and he took off towards the village without a second thought or a single glance back at Yugito.

"Where are you?"

"Use the mother fucking chakra link! Just get the hell over here. Now!"

* * *

"Come now, my budding little puppet master, surely that's not all you have to offer."

Tayuya pressed herself up against a wall in a darkened alley, using what precious little time she had to regain much needed energy. She could easily pick up footsteps growing louder with each passing second, footsteps that she knew belonged to the only man with the audacity to walk carelessly amongst the open streets of Konohagakure, away from any form of cover. Even though it was the dead of night, that was still practically a guaranteed death.

"I think you've had enough of a breather, yes? It's not nice to keep one of higher status waiting."

She swallowed and pushed herself up to her feet, stalking silently to the edge of the alley way immediately afterward. She dug around in her pouch for a moment before her hand came away with a small mirror. The red head slowly moved the object around the corner of the building.

"Shit," she grit out under her breath as she abruptly shoved the mirror back into her pouch and dashed further into the alley.

No sooner had Tayuya moved that the spot she'd been hiding in exploded in a shower of dust and debris, revealing a cloaked individual with clouded gray eyes.

"I grow tired of this game girl!" he shouted out, careless of the danger that would attract, with a maddening grin on his face.

Tayuya ignored him in favor of weaving further through the narrow passage ways. After attempting to fight him earlier and the disastrous results that it had brought, she refused to try again until she had help.

"Tayuya!"

She twisted around at the voice, a kunai already in hand to deal a fatal blow to whoever managed to sneak up on her.

She realized too late that it was Naruto, if the cloak and mask identical to hers' was anything to go by. Fortunately though, the blond reached out and caught her wrist as if he'd expected her reaction all along.

"The tsuchikage!" Tayuya spat as soon as she registered what had happened.

Naruto nodded. "Where'd you see him last?"

"A couple alley ways over, half a minute ago."

"Anything on his abilities?"

"Not much, all I know is the bastard's quick as shit and has enough confidence in himself to walk in the streets without a care."

Naruto grimaced. "Either he's extremely stupid or extremely strong, and given his position..."

Tayuya nodded in return, then scowled a moment later. "We should move, he-"

The wall of the building to their left abruptly exploded outwards, forcing both the blond and the red head to cover their eyes due to the debris. From under his arm, Naruto saw a blur rocket towards him and, before he had a chance to blink, a crushing blow was dealt to his midsection, forcing the air from his lungs and throwing him violently out into the street.

His vision blurred as he roughly impacted the ground and slide several feet before coming to a stop. He heard Tayuya land somewhere near him and, by the sound of her fall, she was just as disoriented as he was.

"Wonderful," a voice drawled from somewhere near the destroyed alley way, "your boyfriend has finally arrived!"

Naruto pushed himself to his feet and blinked several times to restore his vision.

A man stood opposite he and Tayuya on the other side of the street. He was covered in a cloak that hid all his features but for his unfocused, clouded gray eyes.

"Behind," the blond whispered into his mask as soon as he took stock of the situation. He swiftly turned around and sprinted towards another alley, Tayuya following close behind him.

Before he could reach it though, an earthen wall rose up to block off the space between the two buildings.

Naruto scowled, but continued towards the obstruction and started to run up its length.

A wicked looking spike suddenly erupted from the otherwise flat surface of the newly made wall inches from his position. Several more followed after it just as quickly, forcing he and Tayuya to jump back down to the street.

"You wish to run."

Naruto and Tayuya turned back toward the tsuchikage at the sound of his voice. It had changed completely from its previous state. Where before it had been dazed, uncaring and almost insane, it was now hard and merciless.

"There will be no running, Konoha-nin."

The blond jinchuuriki settled into a defensive stance, his eyes darting restlessly from place to place, searching for something, _anything _to use against his and Tayuya's newest opponent.

"You will die here today, fools." The tsuchikage continued, his voice growing more and more like a low growl with every word he spoke. "Not only did you seek to infiltrate an enemy hidden village and hope to get away unscathed, but you chose _mine _in which to do so."

He suddenly reached up and pulled away his cloak, revealing a most intimidating sight.

He had pale, scraggly white hair that reached to just below his eyes. His torso was devoid of clothing, but several obscure markings that Naruto was sure weren't ordinary seals decorated his skin where his heart was located. He wore plain black pants with no visible pockets or pouches and standard ninja sandals that covered his toes. His only weapon was a massive three-bladed scythe, the blades were blood red and the staff was pitch black.

"Shit..." Naruto heard Tayuya muttered unconsciously under her breath, "he looks like one of those followers of that religion... Damnit! What the hell was it called..."

"Jashin," the blond replied as realization swept over him.

The Tsuchikage grinned. "Close, boy, very close. Though I doubt you realize just how right you are."

Naruto wasn't given a chance to contemplate the response though. The white haired man threw his scythe at him, the chain attached to the end of it that had previously gone unnoticed clinking together noisily.

He rolled to the side and allowed the weapon to pass by harmlessly while Tayuya started on a chain of hand seals. He dashed, wind enhancing his movements to the point where he became nothing more than a blur, toward his opponent and created a dozen shadow clones while drawing a kunai.

The Tsuchikage grasped the chain of his weapon and pulled on it with such a force that the scythe was able to ruthlessly cut over half of Naruto's shadow clones in half. The rest were effortlessly crushed by a seal less doton jutsu.

Naruto ignored the destruction of his clones and leapt at his opponent the moment he was in range, the wind enhancing his movements now howling behind him, and swung out at him with his kunai.

The white haired man side stepped the blond's strike and, before Naruto could turn around, landed a blow to the back of his head with the staff of his weapon.

Naruto went down to all fours and immediately spat out some blood from where he'd bitten through his tongue, but before he could even hope to collect himself, a hand painfully grasped his hair and threw him in the direction of Tayuya.

He impacted his partner before she could move and they both went down in a tangled pile of limbs.

"Genjutsu have absolutely no effect on me, girl," came the voice of the Tsuchikage. "Now, end this childish attempt to fight me without using your demon's power."

"Fuck you!" Tayuya spat as she hurled several shuriken at the man while Naruto charged him again.

"So be it," the man grit out as Naruto reached him.

He batted away the shuriken and landed a vicious back hand on the charging blond. Thrown horribly off balance, there was nothing he could do to avoid the scythe as the Tsuchikage swung it at him.

Tayuya thrust her hand out, a nearly invisible chakra string emerging from her fingertips, towards her partner in a desperate attempt to save him.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the string attached to his back and she pulled him out of the way with just a moment to spare.

The Tsuchikage turned towards her, growling in anger, and thrust his free hand out towards the red head. From his fingertips emerged something that could just barely be labeled as chakra.

It had an almost tangible looking presence and the moment it appeared, the nearby area grew noticeably colder. It was a swirling mass of a purple and black chakra-like substance and, as Tayuya soon found out, fast as hell.

She side stepped the black presence as it reached her and brought a kunai down on it in a futile attempt to do away with it.

The chakra continued unhindered though. It redirected itself before Tayuya even realized it was capable of doing so and made another attempt at landing a hit on the girl.

It succeeded.

Tayuya immediately doubled over as whatever the hell the black chakra was mercilessly tore through the skin covering her midsection like it was wet paper. She coughed violently, blood splattering the ground as a creeping feeling started to envelope her afflicted area.

It was deathly cold.

"Tayuya!" Naruto yelled from where he was recovering after having been tossed about like a puppet on strings...literally.

He immediately got to his feet, his mind singularly focused on finding out what happened to his girlfriend and how he could fix it.

From behind him, the Tsuchikage laughed to himself, even as the red head screamed in anguish.

"Figured it out yet boy?" he said with a grin on his face, ignoring the wet cracking sounds now coming from the girl as the black chakra started to tear her open, heedless of what was in its way.

When it became obvious that no answer was forthcoming, the white haired man continued. "Ever wonder why the two tailed jinchuuriki was so easy to beat? Why her blows just didn't have the same devastating impact that your own do?"

"Tayuya!"

"Think boy!" the man continued, regardless of the fact that Naruto was paying him no mind. "I know you can figure it out...after all, the girl's skin looks a tad...pale, don't you think? Dry, maybe?"

A vicious grin spread across the man's face.

"Or how 'bout dead?!"

He saw the blond flinch and pause for a moment, before returning to his futile attempts at getting the black chakra off of Tayuya. Whenever he managed to get a fraction of it off, twice as much would replace it and continue tearing the red head apart twice as fast. There were tears in his eyes, just as there were in Tayuya's, though he sure they were there for completely different reasons.

The Tsuchikage sighed in a mocking display of reluctance at his actions. "I'm sure you've noticed it by now. How your demon can't heal her injury...how her skin is simply _dead_."

The blond boy flinched again and a choked sob even managed to escape his throat.

The Tsuchikage closed his eyes and started to laugh. He laughed at the hopelessness of the situation for the Konoha-nin. He laughed at the feeling of utter control and ultimate power using the chakra gave him. He laughed simply because he _enjoyed _the dying girl's agony and the blond boy's sorrow and panic.

Tayuya cried out into the night, the pain of being pulled apart finally too much to bear. Her fingernails were filthy with dirt from where she'd been gripping the road below her. Blood covered her entire midsection and Naruto's hands.

Still, the black chakra persisted.

It forced itself into her and expanded, time and time again, growing larger and larger.

Naruto had, at this point, started to try and halt its progress instead of trying to get rid of it all together. His vision was blurred from unshed tears, just as Tayuya's was from her own crying.

Another cry escaped the red head.

Upon hearing it, the Tsuchikage's laughter grew to a climax, it was almost an insane howl.

"_Damnit!"_

The blond's enraged curse served to draw the white haired man out of his enjoyment in Tayuya's pain. He slowly called back the black chakra, watching with a sense of sick satisfaction as the wound in the red head's stomach was shown to the world. The girl mercifully fell into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness.

"Don't you get it boy!?"

The Tsuchikage's eyes were wide as he looked down on Naruto.

"Don't you see why you can't beat me?!"

The only response was a dazed murmur, "Tayuya..."

"The Nibi's power over life and death flow through my veins!"

"Tayuya," Naruto repeated under his breath, his mind blank and unfocused save for one emotion. Rapidly building anger.

"I am immortal! _I am a god!_"

"_Tayuya," _the blond grit out, his jaw clenching as his eyes started to narrow. His fingers grew claws and his teeth lengthened into fangs. It seemed his rage only increased as he stared at the red head's wound; just as the Tsuchikage had said, it was not healing.

"I AM JASHIN!"

"**TAYUYA!"**

A blood curdling howl, seething rage and blood lust, echoed throughout Konoha. And at its center... a feral blond boy.

Three tails of malicious red chakra waving dangerously behind him.

* * *

_**Present**_

"Two ANBU, one jounin, myself, Tayuya and Ariya."

"That's all that remains of your group?" Hayate asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Going through Konoha wasn't easy on us."

The sickly jounin nodded. "Alright then, where are they at?"

"Some of your medic nin found us as soon as we neared your camp and took them off into a tent to heal any injuries they sustained."

Hayate nodded and started to head back to where several tents sat around a small fire, most likely going to check on how the other ninja were fairing, but he hesitated.

"You did good Naruto. I'm proud to have you as my student."

The blond nodded, genuinely thankful for the praise, though his weariness out weighed any happiness he might've felt.

"Get some rest," Hayate continued, "we leave in the morning and we'll need everyone to be at their best."

"Where will we go?" Naruto asked, half to himself.

The sickly jounin smiled a half smile. "I don't know. But we certainly can't stick around here, lest we want to be picked off one by one by the clean up ninja that were left behind."

With that, he left Naruto alone amongst the trees, the south gate clearly visible in the distance.

The blond drank in the sight for a few moments, then turned back towards where the remnants of Konoha's ninja had made camp.

The other group hadn't had to pass through the village and had actually started out being larger than the one Naruto had led, so while there were only four able bodied ninja in the group that came from the Hokage Mountains, there were over forty in the group by the south gate.

The blond vaguely heard a relieved "Yugao-chan!" from the direction of the medic tent as he passed through the center of the camp, but it was lost on him. His thoughts were centered around Tayuya.

Everything around her injury was dead. Unable to function in any way, shape or form. That also meant that the chakra coils could no longer carry the Kyuubi's chakra to it and Naruto couldn't risk using the damned beast's chakra so soon after having recovered from it without serious risk to his own health.

That put them in a tough spot, to say the least.

Naruto lifted the flap to the tent he'd been given to share with Tayuya and Ariya.

The red head herself was resting fitfully on all the blankets that had been spared for the three of them and Ariya was dozing silently off to the side, her hands acting as a makeshift pillow for her head.

The blond stood over the two sleeping figures in the tent for a few moments before he himself decided to give in to his increasing exhaustion. A night of sleep sounded like the perfect thing for him at the moment and it was certainly a good idea for when the Konoha nin left tomorrow.

He laid down on the ground, softly pulling Ariya to him for warmth and reaching out to grasp one of Tayuya's hands.

He didn't stop the flicker of a smile from crossing his face when the red head's hand reflexively closed around his.

* * *

_Three weeks, two days earlier._

Jashin eyed his opponent warily, his mind actually starting to doubt his ability to win.

The Kyuubi's power had turned out to be much stronger than he'd intended and, after the blond boy had sprouted a fourth tail, everything started to go down hill.

The boy was no longer human, that much he was sure of. He was a being of pure chakra.

And chakra cannot be killed.

A roar abruptly cut through the tentative silence that had settled over the immediate area, followed quickly by an explosion. A section of the street went up in an explosive pillar of dust and debris.

Jashin's eyes narrowed even as the blood red form of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki hurled itself towards him from the vision-impairing cloud that it had just made.

The monster clasped its hands together in mid air and brought them down with a terrible force on the spot where his prey had just stood. The top most layer of the ground was immediately incinerated and whatever escaped that fate was throw about at random from the power of the blow.

Naruto howled in anger, his blood lust rising to an even greater intensity. The ground cracked and buckled under the sheer pressure the red chakra emitted.

He jumped at Jashin again, this time intent on eviscerating the self-proclaimed god with his claws.

The Tsuchikage rolled to the side to avoid getting sliced in half and immediately used his scythe to impale the jinchuuriki at three separate points in its stomach.

His attack went ignored and the damned beast even managed to use it against him. It lashed out in blind rage while he was pulling his weapon free and landed a blow on his jaw. He was sent hurling down the street with a severely broken jaw.

Naruto's eyes widened with satisfaction and he let loose roar of triumph, his tails flicking excitedly behind him.

Jashin narrowed his eyes from where he was picking himself up off the ground. He'd made a mistake in allowing the blond to call upon the Kyuubi's chakra, something he wouldn't do the next time they fought.

For now though, he decided as he watched the jinchuuriki howl and utterly decimate nearby buildings in his mindless glee, retreat was the best option.

He cracked his jaw back into place and allowed some of the life giving chakra in him to immediately heal his injury.

"Next time, Namikaze Naruto..." he muttered under his breath. "Next time, you'll meet your end Namikaze!"

His exclamation did nothing to attract the attention of the jinchuuriki though, it was too preoccupied with causing general chaos in celebration of his victory.

Jashin turned and stalked silently towards the closest gates, the ominous sound of a clinking chain fading as he did.

* * *

_**Present**_

"I'm taking Tayuya and Ariya with me to try and find Tsunade."

The majority of the surviving Konoha-nin turned towards Naruto with varying looks of surprise of their faces. They had made it safely through the ruined south gates and were now a half day's traveling distance into the forests of Fire Country. The tentative plan that had been drawn up by a few ANBU captains that had taken charge was to head to a neutral country and decide on any further action there; finding Tsunade of the Sannin most certainly didn't go along with their plans.

"You're sure, Naruto? We might be able to find a healer in our travels to help her," Hayate said, effectively breaking the silence that had fallen over the Konoha-nin.

Naruto nodded. "Her injury isn't normal, even the Kyuubi's chakra couldn't heal it. I'm certain that this is something only someone of Tsunade's caliber will be able to fix."

His concerns were obviously reasonable, none of the surviving medic-nin could do anything to heal Tayuya's wound, the only thing they were able to determine was that the red head would die if she went too long without treatment.

Hayate stared at him for a long moment, to the point where the silence almost became awkward, before speaking again. "Alright then, I'm coming along to help."

"You don't have to-"

The sickly jounin waved off his student's protests. "You and Tayuya are my pupils Naruto, it's my duty to help you in any way I can. I want to do this."

Naruto carefully adjusted Tayuya – the red head was currently asleep on his back – and settled for nodding mutely.

"Well," Yugao spoke up from her position next to Hayate, "if this idiot's going with you, then I'm coming too. He's not very useful to me dead, after all..."

Naruto's face cracked into a half smile as he nodded again, thankful for their willingness to help him.

A familiar figure stepped forward before any more could be said.

"I want to go as well," came the voice of one Uchiha Sasuke. He looked far more sedate since the last time Naruto had seen him, likely due to the assault on Konoha.

It was something that would certainly leave scars on all of the survivors, physically and mentally.

Naruto stayed silent, settling for watching as the Uchiha approached him.

When the dark haired boy reached him, he spoke.

"Good to see you didn't get yourself killed, Uchiha."

"The Uchiha aren't so easier killed, Namikaze."

"I'll take your word for it," Naruto said around a grin.

There was a brief pause as silence stretched over the Konoha-nin before one of the ANBU who'd taken charge spoke up.

"We wish you luck, Namikaze. It seems our village was wrong about you... perhaps if we'd overcome our hatred of the Kyuubi from the start, Konoha would still be standing."

Naruto didn't respond, he didn't think he'd be able to without losing his temper. It was clear that if the Konoha-nin hadn't heard he was a Namikaze, they would still see him as the Kyuubi itself.

He looked over the group of Konoha-nin once last time, making sure to memorize as many faces as he could, before he turned in the direction of the nearest gambling city. With any luck, he'd find a rumor or two to follow until he could find Tsunade, maybe he'd even stumble upon Jiraiya; that pervert would most likely know where his blond teammate was.

* * *

**A/N: **And so ends the longest chapter in Heisetsu to date. Hope I didn't lose too many readers with my long break.

And now, for the actual notes. The fight between Sasuke and his opponent in the preliminaries: I know his chakra was messed up because of the curse seal Orochimaru gave him, but how many of the spectators knew that? In case any of you were wondering, that's the reason behind the generally negative opinion of his fight.

For those of you worried about Ariya's change in her character, remember that last time you saw her, her world had just been turned upside-down. She'd been sneaked out of Iwagakure, traveled on the road for weeks and then dropped in the middle of the new village with only two people that she knew as support. In my mind, it's inevitable that she become dependent on them for a while and if you disagree...well, too bad.

When Naruto (and now Tayuya) use the Kyuubi's chakra, I believe that, since it utterly destroys rational thought, it'll also hurt their abilities that require any thought more complicated than their basic survival instincts. Genjutsu, ninjutsu, fuinjutsu and any other ability like those will either be completely forgotten about or just ignored in favor of a more direct way of killing. That's why the meters gauging their skill level look a bit different under Kyuubi's influence.

Overall though, the meters are just there to give you a general idea of how strong Naruto and Tayuya are. It's the first time I've done something like that... so I'm probably going to make quite a few mistakes in doing them. Bear with me there eh?

And finally, the concern that Tayuya's body would shut down from absorbing so much of the Kyuubi's chakra. This is actually a valid concern that I completely forgot about. Now that I think about it, she should've died when Naruto made the link due to the fact that her chakra coils were far too small to handle the chakra. It's too late to change all that now though...so I'll have to ask all of you to ignore my mistake there.


	20. Chapter 20

_Previously_

There was a brief pause as silence stretched over the Konoha-nin before one of the ANBU who'd taken charge spoke up.

"We wish you luck, Namikaze. It seems our village was wrong about you... perhaps if we'd overcome our hatred of the Kyuubi from the start, Konoha would still be standing."

Naruto didn't respond, he didn't think he'd be able to without losing his temper. It was clear that if the Konoha-nin hadn't heard he was a Namikaze, they would still see him as the Kyuubi itself.

He looked over the group of Konoha-nin once last time, making sure to memorize as many faces as he could, before he turned in the direction of the nearest gambling city. With any luck, he'd find a rumor or two to follow until he could find Tsunade, maybe he'd even stumble upon Jiraiya; that pervert would most likely know where his blond teammate was.

**Similarities in Opposites**

**Chapter 20**

"Tayuya-nee! Tayuya-nee! Like this?"

Tayuya glanced down at Ariya from her position on Naruto's back and tiredly shook her head a short moment later.

"You've gotta feel your chakra flowing through it and mold it to whatever shape you want it to take on," the red head said, pointing to the handful of dirt Ariya had been trying to manipulate for the past half hour. "Imagine that your chakra is the glue and the dirt is the material. The material needs glue to stay together right?"

The small brunette's face contorted for a moment before her mouth took on an "oh" shape and she returned to her task with renewed vigor.

"Progressing well isn't she," Naruto murmured, a grin on his face as he kept an eye on Ariya and her progress with the dirt. She'd tripped over her own feet no less than six times due to the fact that she wasn't paying attention to anything but the dirt, after all.

"A hell of a lot faster-"

Tayuya grunted and abruptly stopped speaking as wracking pain from her wound overcame her. She grit her teeth and her grip on Naruto tightened noticeably.

Several long seconds later her body sagged and she spat out, "Damnit!" while laying her head against Naruto's shoulder tiredly.

"Hate this stupid fucking shit."

"We'll find Tsuande, I'm sure she'll be able to do something."

"But will she?"

Naruto turned towards the speaker, one Uchiha Sasuke, and shrugged silently.

"There's nothing in it for her, she wouldn't gain anything," the boy continued.

This time, the blond responded verbally. "I don't care what it takes, I'll get her to help no matter what I have to do."

Sasuke stared at him a moment longer, but eventually nodded and averted his gaze.

Naruto still wasn't sure why the Uchiha had decided to come with him in his journey to find Tsunade, but he didn't really care either way. As long as his goals didn't interfere with any of the blond's own, he was glad for the extra help.

"We should reach town by nightfall," he continued after pausing to shift Tayuya on his back. The red head was still slouched and breathing rather heavily, small beads of sweat running down her face.

"You won't find Tsunade in that town," a voice called out from somewhere in the trees off the path.

Naruto spun and shifted Tayuya again, ripping a groan of discomfort from her throat, to pull out a kunai; Sasuke got into a ready stance a few feet to his right. The overly boisterous voice spoke again before anything else could be done though.

"Is this how you greet your legendary sensei brat? I think the great Jiraiya-sama deserves a little more respect!"

"The only thing you deserve is the number one spot on the "Dangerous Sexual Predators" list," Tayuya muttered dryly into Naruto's shoulder.

The blond allowed himself a small grin. "Yo, ero-sensei! What're you doing around here?"

"Same thing you kids are; looking for Tsunade of the sannin."

Upon seeing Naruto frown, the white haired man jumped down from his perch in a tree and approached them.

"Orochimaru's arms can't be fixed by any ordinary healer, and Tsunade isn't any ordinary healer. I've gotta find her before he does."

Naruto nodded in understanding while Jiraiya's eyes strayed to the miserable-looking lump on the blond's shoulder.

"Is that Tayuya?" he asked as he watched the mass of tangled red hair shift and reveal a haggard-looking face that definitely belonged to his student's girlfriend.

"How many other motherfucking red heads do you know that live in this shitty country, pervert?"

"Well there's-"

"Never mind. I don't want to hear how many whores you've fucked and how desperate they were to actually accept your business."

Jiraiya frowned. "That time of the month huh?"

"Fuck off!"

"Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto started in an even tone. "The invasion left Tayuya with a crippling injury that's slowly killing her. She's been getting attacks ever since we left Konoha."

The toad sannin's face took on a look of understanding. "Sorry to hear it, Tayuya."

The red head grunted and shoved her face back into Naruto's shoulder, clutching at her stomach futilely.

"So," Jiraiya continued after sighing and looking towards Sasuke, "you're Uchiha Sasuke, right?"

The dark haired boy nodded.

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing you decided to follow my student, regardless of your reasons."

"Why's that?"

The white haired man's face morphed into a look of surprise. "You haven't heard? I would've thought the entire region would know by now..."

"Heard what ero-sensei," Naruto asked, his frustration over Tayuya's situation quickly morphing into impatience.

"The group of surviving Konoha-nin has been completely wiped out."

* * *

"An ambush then," Naruto muttered under his breath as he stared into the crackling fire later that night. Jiraiya sat across from him, Sasuke to his right, Hayate and Yugao to his left. Tayuya and Ariya had both been asleep for a few hours.

"The Lightning-nin were apparently more involved than what was initially thought. Earth, Sound and Sand made up the majority of the invading forces that attacked Konoha that night, while Lightning saved over half of theirs' to exterminate any survivors."

Jiraiya paused to sip at the sake bottle in his hand. "Honestly, I'm surprised the six of you managed to get this far without any conflict."

"And you're sure there are no other survivors?" Yugao asked, a fierce scowl on her face. She was a passionate woman by nature and the fact that nearly all of her comrades, her friends and her family had been killed wasn't sitting well with her.

"The Hyuuga clan survived, most of it, anyway," the toad sannin muttered in distaste as he took another swig. "They ran as soon as the fight took a turn for the worse. Only the ones that were truly loyal to Konoha perished, the rest of them, cowards that they are, are still somewhere out there."

"Bastards," Naruto said around his scowl. "More concerned with their precious eyes and the continuation of their clan than the place they called home for over a century."

"It gets worse," Jiraiya said. "This is only a rumor and I haven't confirmed it with any of my contacts yet, but people have been saying the remnants of Hyuuga clan joined Kumogakure."

Yugao's eyes narrowed in rage and Hayate immediately reached out for her hand, attempting to stop the ironically passionate ANBU before she did something she'd regret.

"Of all the things they could've done..." Naruto snarled. "Not only did they run when their comrades needed them, but they went and joined our enemies too."

Silence settled over the group at that point. Only the soft crackling of the fire and the various sounds the creatures of the night were making could be heard.

"We suffered so much. All of us did. And the Hyuuga abandoned us, left us to die. What they've done is an insult to everyone who died defending their home," the blond continued in a quiet tone. "They'll die. All of them will die."

He punched the ground, unconsciously gouging a cut into the dirt. "I'll make sure of it."

Sasuke glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "After I've killed my brother, I'll join you in eradicating the Hyuuga. They've disgraced the name of bloodline limit users for too long."

"The Hyuuga will get what's coming to them eventually, but right now our first priority is finding Tsunade," Jiraiya said.

He paused and rubbed his chin.

"We'll have to rely on the rumors and stories that follow her." He chuckled. "The 'Legendary Sucker' never goes far without drawing attention from townspeople."

* * *

"Honestly, I thought she would've been there," Jiraiya stated around a frown. "Five towns and absolutely no luck finding her."

Naruto grunted, his mind too troubled to respond with anything more. It'd been nearly three weeks since Jiraiya had found their group and started searching for Tsunade with them, three weeks of Tayuya's condition worsening.

The red head was now almost constantly tired and she was certainly several shades too pale to be healthy. She spent nearly half the days sleeping and, when the last of the Konoha-nin would move to another town, Naruto would be forced to move more carefully due to the fact that almost any movement at all could trigger an attack from her wound.

"All the rumors, all the mutterings point to here," Jiraiya said under his breath as they neared the edge of the town. Due to the fact that they were still in Fire Country, the group had decided not to stay in any hotels to avoid being noticed. Jiraiya would be recognized instantly, but he was seen away from Konoha so many times that no one really paid him any mind and by taking off his forehead protector, Naruto had stopped any possibility of him being connected to Konoha.

The Toad Sannin sighed. "I'm gonna go get something to drink, see if I can't dig up any information we missed."

Naruto nodded. "Don't do anything _too _stupid, ero-sensei."

"Bah!" he exclaimed as he started to turn back toward town. "My calm collected mind has only two weaknesses and I guard them jealously!"

"Sake and women, then."

"Ungrateful brat," Jiraiya muttered. "Won't even let me have one moment of arrogance..."

Naruto snorted and almost cracked a grin as he heard the sannin head back towards town, the crackling of a campfire up ahead distracted him though.

He continued into the forest at a quicker pace and eventually came upon the camp where he and his fellow Konoha-nin had decided to stay.

Four tents were set up around a smoldering fire in a small clearing. The softly flickering light played across the faces of both Yugao and Hayate, who were sitting quietly together outside their tent. Sasuke, the blond assumed, was already asleep in his.

Naruto greeted his sensei and made his way toward the tent he knew to house Tayuya and Ariya.

He pulled back the flap and entered. His girlfriend was lying motionless on the ground with one hand resting on top of her injured flesh. Her eyes flickered open upon hearing him though and silently followed his movements as he moved around the tent, eventually coming to kneel beside her.

"Lemme see it," the blond prodded softly.

Tayuya shakily took her hand away and allowed him to lift her shirt up just past were the bandages ended. Soon enough, those were unwrapped and her wound exposed, accompanied by the red head's hiss as her mutilated flesh meant air.

It looked just as horrible as it was, Naruto noted. The flesh on Tayuya's side, around where the vile chakra-like substance had pierced her, was blackened and decidedly dead. Her veins were clearly visible for several inches under her skin, tinted a black color that signified the progress of the deadly chakra. Wherever the black in the veins ended red immediately took its place, a clear sign of the Kyuubi's chakra vainly trying to resist.

Naruto exhaled softly. The infection was beginning to close in on some of her vital organs, she wouldn't be able to last...

He shook his head fiercely and went about cleaning the wound to the best of his abilities.

If it came down to it, he'd create enough shadow clones to search the entirety of Fire Country for Tsunade, regardless of the consequences. Anything to save her.

Naruto finished cleaning the wound and quickly went about wrapping the bandages back around Tayuya's midsection. Once that was done, he shoved the medicinal supplies to a corner of the tent and, standing, turned towards the opening flap of the tent.

He'd only made it a couple steps when a tiny tremor threw him off balance and nearly caused him to fall over.

The blond grunted in annoyance and shrugged it off as he continued walking but not a second later the very same thing happened again.

This time, he stood motionless.

Another tremor.

A low growl unconsciously escaped from his lips and his features twisted into a half grimace, half snarl.

He didn't like the feeling he was getting from whatever the hell it was that was causing the tremors. He knew they were unnatural and if he focused, he could barely make out the signature of a foreign chakra source relatively close by.

Six shadow clones burst into existence behind him, immediately going about carefully preparing Tayuya to be moved. One of them made his way over to Ariya and hefted the sleeping girl onto his back.

Within thirty seconds, a disgruntled Tayuya was cautiously being moved out of the tent and into the clearing. She put up no fight or fuss, though in her condition Naruto would've been more worried if she actually used the energy to do so, rather than stay quiet.

Hayate and Yugao were already standing back-to-back in front of Sasuke's tent, apparently waiting for the boy to emerge.

"We're leaving," Hayate said shortly. "I don't think I need to explain why."

Naruto nodded and, without any visible signal, his clones started carrying Tayuya into the forest on the ground. He would've liked to carry her himself, but her condition was in such a fragile state now that nothing less than several Naruto's could carry her at a decent rate without much risk of further injuring her.

The original blond stood silently in the clearing as his clones got a head start that they would doubtlessly need. His hair was starting to stand on end and his temper was quickly becoming uncontrollable for reasons that he was unaware of.

Perhaps it was the fact that whatever was out there could be a threat to Tayuya. Maybe it was the fact that he was completely _fucking useless _as his girlfriend died.

He didn't know, he didn't really care either.

All he knew was anger.

His already impressive vision began to improve even further and his ears started to pick up even the slightest sound made in the nearby forest.

Red chakra started to leak out of the seal on his shoulder, immediately catching his eye.

Naruto exhaled deeply and closed his eyes, fighting off the furious rage that was not his until it was at a controllable level. More of Kyuubi's chakra agitating her wound was the last thing Tayuya needed at the moment.

Movement startled the blond enough to cause him to snap into a defensive position, he relaxed when he saw it was merely Sasuke, Hayate and Yugao, though.

"Come on," Hayate started.

At that moment though, another tremor rippled through the clearing. This one was far larger and much more intensive than any before it.

It was closer.

The splintered remains of the trunk of a tree suddenly burst into the campsite and hurtled into the dense forest on the opposite side.

Naruto watching numbly as it barreled through several trees and knocked down even more before coming to a stop on the ground.

It had went into the forest in the direction his clones had taken Tayuya.

The blond's breathing started to become heavy, his senses heightening again.

He silently lunged across the campsite and hit the ground on the opposite side running at a breakneck pace. Whatever this thing was needed to die, and he was going to kill it.

He snarled viciously and launched himself into the air, the wind chakra lacing his legs pushing him farther and faster than what he was otherwise capable of.

Naruto landed hunched over in an open field some time later and immediately took in his surroundings.

There was a homely black haired woman lying on the ground to his left, apparently unconscious. Farther out was a silver haired ninja he'd never seen before and a familiar head of long black hair.

The blond seethed silently as recognition passed over him. That was Orochimaru!

He sucked in a breath and was about to let loose his rage in the form of a blood lust roar, the same roar that had been deeply ingrained into the memories of all those that had witnessed the destruction of Konoha, but something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Red chakra.

The blond cursed himself as concern for Tayuya immediately overpowered his anger at whatever was threatening her earlier. He closed his eyes and forced himself to breath slowly and deeply, sighing an inaudible sigh of relief when he felt the red chakra recede into the seal.

He was becoming easier to anger with each passing day and he couldn't be sure whether it was the situation he found himself in or that deal he'd made with the Kyuubi so long ago.

He was so young... so stupid back then. He hadn't even considered the giant demon fox might've been up to something when it had agreed so readily to the terms of the deal.

Naruto was forcibly shaken from his thoughts by a familiar, yet unique laugh.

"Never liked blood much did you?" Orochimaru asked a blond woman that Naruto had missed earlier; he realized with no small amount of relief that it was Tsunade herself. She appeared to be completely fine, but for a few drops of blood on the front of her shirt.

The snake sannin sneered down at her. "You could've had them," he said, pausing to let his words sink in. "Little Nawaki and your precious Dan. You could've had them back, and all you had to do was heal my arms."

Orochimaru spat on the ground in front of Tsunade, the woman remained oblivious.

"You've of no use to me unless you use your skills to restore my arms, Tsunade. I'll ask you once more, will you-"

The man abruptly stopped talking at the tiny sound of sharp objects whistling through the air and turned to dodge the shuriken Naruto had throw at him. He flowed in between them with dexterity that couldn't possibly have been human.

"I was wondering when you'd show yourself, little fox," the snake sannin mumbled to himself, a wicked grin on his face as he watched the blond quickly close the distance between them.

Naruto never got to his target though. A fist abruptly burst out of the ground below him, followed closely by the body of the earth clone Orochimaru had hidden in the dirt.

Naruto threw his weight to the side and rolled away from the attack, coming up on his feet as soon as he could and continuing his charge at Orochimaru.

The sannin allowed his grin to shift into a smirk and suddenly whirled around to land a backhand on another Naruto's cheek that had just come at him from the air.

"There wasn't any dust, Naruto-kun," the man cooed as the first Naruto reached him and attacked with a horizontal slash of his kunai. It passed harmlessly through its target.

The real Naruto quickly picked himself up off the ground, blinking in surprise at the sheer strength behind the blow that had just been dealt to him. He shook it off though and wasted no time in forming a one handed seal.

"Ah, ah, ah," Orochimaru tsked softly in his ear from where he'd just appeared out of the ground. He lashed out and delivered a solid blow to Naruto's midsection, sending the blond tumbling away from him again.

The blond quickly attempted to get to his feet again, but the snake sannin was already there, appearing out of the ground again.

He really was like a snake, Naruto reflected as he felt a rib break under the pressure of Orochimaru's most recent attack. He struck fast and he struck hard, pulling back out of harm's way before any retaliation could be directed at him.

Naruto landed in a heap on the ground and used his momentum to bring himself back to his feet. This time, he had already formed a one handed seal as he was rising, so the Orochimaru already rising from the ground was meant with a Daitoppa from point-blank range.

It was completely obliterated, but the fact that it was a mere earth clone made Naruto curse under his breath.

He looked around him to find that the snake sannin hadn't even moved from his position in front of Tsunade. He was _toying _with him.

"Very good Naruto-kun," the man sang softly, "I didn't expect you to be able to best that clone."

The blond's jaw clenched. He grasped the meaning under that statement easily. _Clone_, singular, as in one damnable clone that had given him that much trouble. The man evidently didn't even need any hand signs to do it too, using no hand signs for a jutsu almost always meant one had mastered it, completely and utterly. They knew every use for it, defensive or offensive, they knew its strengths and its weaknesses, they knew how much chakra it took and how the chakra felt as it was forming.

To have mastered a jutsu was to have become one with it, in every sense of the word.

Using one handed seals was easy enough, all you had to do was practice the jutsu or use it enough until you had a good handle on what it felt like. It was a simple act from there of just practicing with it a little more until you could use it with one hand.

No hand seals was a whole new level.

Two more earth clones of the man abruptly burst out of the ground and seized the blond's arm, holding them with an iron grip that he couldn't hope to break.

A Rasengan started to form in his right hand, the only sealless jutsu he knew and one of the few legacies his father had left behind. To create a jutsu with no seals was to know the chakra manipulation and chakra itself at its most base level. His father had to have had intimate knowledge of the way chakra worked to form Rasengan to create the technique, truly an achievement.

Naruto didn't have that level of understanding yet, so he would be unable to add on anything to the jutsu until he did. The only thing he could manage was to use his wind chakra to form an incomplete and rather unstable imitation of the Rasengan.

Mastery or not, his Rasengan would be more than enough to free himself.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru had no intention of allowing the blond to do that.

Another earth clone appeared in front of Naruto and immediately delivered a punch to his gut, forcibly dispelling the half complete Rasengan.

"What did you hope to accomplish, Naruto-kun? Did you honestly think you could beat _me_?"

The earth clone punched him again in the gut and then once more on the jaw.

"Foolish," Orochimaru muttered as he turned back to Tsunade.

Naruto growled and opened his mouth to shout, but all he could get out was a wheeze. The earth clone had landed another blow to his midsection and followed it with a backhand to his cheek. This time, it continued with its assault.

Another blow to his ribs, two of which broke.

Was this really all he could do without the Kyuubi's strength? Was he that dependent on the demonic chakra when he fought his enemies?

An open palm thrust to his stomach made him lose his breath and gasp for more air, only to be backhanded across the face again.

He saw his vision start to go spotty as the clone rained down blows on him. A vicious punch managed to break his jaw, leaving it to hang limply from his face. Another shattered the bones supporting his nose. The clones holding his arms ruthlessly broke the bones in his forearms in half even as the third continued its assault on his ribs.

His vision was hopelessly unfocused, horribly blurred now. He could make out figures, though there were far more than there were supposed to be in the clearing... at least, he thought so. He couldn't really remember much of anything, really, just Orochimaru.

Orochimaru and how much stronger he was, how useless he'd made him feel.

The blond's eyes started to drift shut and he thought he heard a furious screech rend the night air. He coughed, hacking up blood on the grass he was laying on.

He blinked, the act of making his eyes open again horribly difficult.

When had he started lying on the ground?

That thought, as well as any others in his mind, drifted away from him. He fell unconscious, away from the dulled, stinging sensations that had engulfed his limbs.

* * *

Awareness returned to him slowly.

First came the muffled sounds of voices in his ears. The words they were speaking and who was speaking them were completely unknown to him.

Next came his sight. Blinding light flooded his vision first, only after several seconds of blinking did the brightness decrease to a manageable level.

Last came the realization that he was actually awake, along with his last waking memories.

"Orochimaru!" Naruto gasped as he bolted upright in bed.

A large hand, nearly the size of his chest pushed him back down into the comfortable warm sheets.

"Calm down kid, he's gone," came the voice he knew belonged to Jiraiya. "Tayuya's safe-"

Naruto quickly sat up again as the mention of his girlfriend's name made it to his ears.

"Damnit kid!" Jiraiya muttered as he pushed his student down again. "Tsunade told me-"

"Tsunade!"

"Lay. Down."

"But I have to talk to Tsunade!"

"Lay down and I'll tell you what she said about Tayuya."

That one stopped the blond mid-struggle and he slowly lowered himself back onto the bed.

Jiraiya sighed. "Look kid," he started slowly, "she said Tayuya doesn't have much time left... something about that chakra destroys everything it comes into contact with. Doesn't even leave any remains."

"Can she be healed?"

The toad sannin licked his lips uncomfortably at the look on his student's face. He'd never, _never _seen Naruto this open before, this vulnerable.

"It's complicated..."

"Jiraiya," Naruto started, "can she or can she not be healed."

"Yes-"

The blond exhaled deeply, a relieved smile on his face as his body sagged tiredly into the bed.

"-but she won't do it."

"What!" Naruto spat, his previously calm blue eyes now livid with rage.

"She says the only way she knows how to heal her would leave her half dead."

"But... That's-" the blond fumed incoherently. Part of him realized that he had no right to ask Tsunade to do something that would leave her in such a pathetic condition, but she was a medic nin damn it! There had to be some way, some method, _something _he could do to help!

"Where is she," he demanded more than questioned.

"You aren't strong enough to be-"

"Where is she," he said again, this time turning to the black haired woman sitting in the room that he hadn't noticed before.

"Tsunade-sama is downstairs, but-"

Naruto was already out of bed and moving down the stairs before the woman could finish. His bones cried open in protest and his muscles strained unwillingly to keep up with his swift movements, but he forced them to cooperate.

He barreled down into the bar of what could only be the inn he was currently inside, easily finding the two pigtails that the toad sannin sported.

"What'll it do to you," he said in the same flat tone of voice that demanded an answer as soon as he was within ear shot of her.

The woman sighed and set down her saucer.

"He said you'd do this," she muttered, disgruntled. "Said you'd try and do something to help, try and convince me to heal her."

Naruto grit his teeth, seething anger starting to take hold of him. "What'll it-"

"I heard you the first time," she said. "And it'll leave me half dead, kid."

"Why-"

"Nothing you say will make me change my mind and nothing you do will convince me to help her, just drop it, kid," the woman muttered, still having not bothered to look at Naruto.

The blond slowly exhaled in an attempt to calm himself.

He was only half successful.

"What were you going to do?" He grit out.

Tsunade turned to face him, finally. Her eyes were bloodshot and her expression sorrowful, though Naruto knew it wasn't out of pity for him or for Tayuya, she couldn't care less about them.

The toad sannin silently raised one hand and pointed at the gem in her forehead. "The energy I have stored in here is strong enough to heal anything, even something that has been destroyed by death in chakra form. It's my life force."

She turned back to the bar. "That's also why it would leave me half dead, kid. I'm not going to heal her."

"How?"

Tsunade irritably put her saucer down on the bar again and turned to face him. "How, what?"

"How does it work?"

The woman cracked a grin. "Kid, you wouldn't even be able to draw up the storage seals for this, much less convert the chakra into pure life force... I don't think you can even convert it into medical chakra."

With that, she pushed past him and headed for the stairs, where Jiraiya and Shizune were standing silently.

"Since you've ruined any possible enjoyment I could get from drinking tonight, I think I'll get some sleep now." She paused. "Shizune, we're leaving first thing in the morning."

Tsunade cast a glance back at Naruto, who was staring directly back at her, and shook her head before heading upstairs.

* * *

Jiraiya of the sannin sat silently at the bar, several hours into the night, while he contemplated his two former teammates.

One of them had betrayed Konoha outright and developed a sick desire to see it burn to the ground under his feet. That desire had obviously been fulfilled. Konoha was eradicated and, if his sources were to be trusted, there was already building tension between Suna, Iwa and Kumo.

Jiraiya scoffed and drank in more warm sake. Orochimaru had eliminated Konoha in the shortest ninja war – if it could even be called that – to date only to bring about another one just weeks later. Fire Country contained some of the most fertile land in the area and it had a decent amount of natural resources as well. Dividing up that land had apparently been causing some trouble between the victorious nations.

Tsunade.

She had betrayed Konoha as well, though it wasn't as obvious as it was with Orochimaru. She abandoned her village because she couldn't stand being where those precious to her had died. She held a petty hatred of anything even remotely related to Konoha and now it was carrying over to her work as a medic nin as well.

Immediately after her talk with Naruto, the blond had hid away inside one of the two hotel rooms Jiraiya had rented for the night. Last Jiraiya knew, he was crouched over a desk trying to find a way to copy Tsunade's most powerful healing technique.

The toad sannin sighed. Naruto was so absorbed in his work that he hadn't even thought to ask why Hayate and Yugao weren't around nor question why Jiraiya had suddenly decided to stay in a hotel after spending weeks avoiding public eye. He hadn't even thought about how he recovered from his injuries so quickly.

The man grunted and, with a heave, pushed himself away from the bar. Tayuya didn't have long left to live and he was almost certain Naruto wouldn't be able to replicate Tsunade's _Creation Rebirth _technique without his help.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry bout this taking so long...seems like I'm falling into a habit of taking forever with the chapters. Don't worry though, I still plan on finishing this story, no matter how long it takes.

Either way, to those of you that've stuck around from the beginning, I want to thank you for tolerating my writing habits .

After this chapter, there'll be one more before the typically 3-4 year time skip.

Heisetsu roughly means "link" in japanese...don't quote me on that though.

Lastly, I think the reasons behind having Yugito attack Naruto as a gesture of good will become clear in this chapter. Kumo didn't take part in the actual attack as much as the other villages, so they sent in a jinchuuriki to make up for it.


End file.
